Bruce Springsteen new albúm !

[Diane]

Thanks for the pointers, Steven. So far, I did listen to Flowers are Red. I'm not sure that musically it is my cup of tea, but I like lyrics like that, too - telling a story, and very much to the point.

As an aside, the idea of not being able to describe things in their true colours reminds me a little of Wallace Steven's poem The Man With the Blue Guitar:

The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.
They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."
The man replied, "Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar."
And they said to him, "But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,
A tune upon the blue guitar,
Of things exactly as they are."
(first stanza only)

The report said that a scientist there was ridiculed, called an "imbecile" and was
forced to take down a statement from a website that an earthquake was
imminent. -- Prior to the earthquake. Instantly, I recalled Chapin's "The
Rock," as having some similarity to this.

What a tragic event in Italy. Just looked up the song and you're right. It's not so bad that he was being called an imbecile. In the the old days, scientists telling the truth in Italy were liable to be burnt at the stake!

p.p.s Derek Trucks is playing Chicago this Wednesday....$ 25 a pop. Why do all these bands play mid week? I am in bed by 10 pm.

I can see the dilemma. I wouldn't like to drive for two hours for a concert and then two hours home and still get up early. You would float through the day though, so it mightn't matter that much. FYI, whilst checking out the Eric Clapton tour dates, I noticed that he is playing in Chicago on the 17th June, with Steve Winwood (Steve Winwood isn't part of the UK Tour). It's a Wednesday:-)

On the jazz theme, this is a truly ace version of Layla. I wouldn't have listened to this for more than a few seconds a year ago, so something must be happening to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS71fFMQOB0

ps and the more standard version, still the best:

http://ericclapton.com/videos/layla-live-staples-center Turn it up!

[Steven]

Hi Diane,

"Flowers Are Red," isn't my cup of tea, musically, either, but I'm with you on liking
the lyrics. Probably the music would play better for kids. I've been most fond
of Chapin's stories, but even they have lost some edge to me over the years. I
wonder how he would have matured in music/themes had he lived beyond his
tragic demise. As a storyteller, a humanitarian and a person willing to touch
painful emotions via music creation he was stellar. I like the Wallace Stevens
lines you posted. The blue guitar might be metaphor for the instruments (our
own subjective minds) through which we see things. Yes, the "they" in the
poem are analogous, it would seem, to the color police in "Flowers Are Red."

I think Galileo and many other scientists have had their problems with
authorities. The school teacher in the movie "Inherit The Wind" with
Spencer Tracy experienced some of that (a great classic).

Yes, tragic what took place in Italy. May they recover as good as they
possibly can.

[Kush]

Hi Diane and Steven,

I have Harry Chapin's Dance Band on the Titanic album and used to hear it a lot at one time. Am also familiar with Cats in the Cradle (via Johnny Cash) and Mr. Tanner.
But here is Springsteen in '87 at Harry Chapin Benefit concert singing Remember when the Music...I didnt know this one. Pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEvimXwEGgs


Diane...just heard the jazz version of Layla. what can I say...its simply awesome!!! Gracias! That goes very nicely with the Leonard Cohen/Sonny Rollins combo of pleasant surprises.

p.s. heard Layla (jazz version) a few times now. Strange as it may sound I was not familiar with the original (not one that I remember anyway) so I didnt really have a template. One day I'll click on the other version...not now.

[Steven]

Hi Kush,

I've heard the Johnny Cash cover and like most things he'd covered, it is good (I think
I've got it on a DVD). I look forward to watching the Springsteen cover of "Remember
When." "Layla" will be checked out also. That first name and that of "Roxanne"
were great names to sing with gusto at one time in my life.

Everyone,

Have a great Easter/Passover/Spring time of year.

[Diane]

As you both mention Johnny Cash, Bruce did a cover of Long Black Veil that I saw on youtube. I am not grabbed by the tune, whoever sings it (edit: I just looked it up and it seems I haven't heard many of the versions that have been done), but it's another fine example of a compelling story in song.

Glad you like the jazz version of Layla, Kush. Yes, click on the 'real' one when the time is right. You can't rush a good thing. (There are other acoustic versions, too.)

My good wishes also to anyone reading, whatever you are celebrating. Spring is very beautiful here.

ps the Harry C song Bruce sung is really good. I was ages trying to figure out what "wooden boxes strung with silver wire" were - the penny just dropped!

[Steven]

Hi Diane,

The version of "Long Black Veil," as sung by Cash, that I find somewhat of a grabber,
or at least a "haunter" is the one in the "Unearthed" box set. I'll have to look for the
Bruce cover on Youtube. Another compelling story in song is "The Highwayman,"
sung by Phil Ochs and based on a poem by Alfred Noyes. -- I like the melody on
this Ochs tune. Re: the penny dropping, you were probably just trying too hard
to conjure up one of those blue guitars that came up earlier.* Every season,
I find to be beautiful**; glad you are finding your Spring to be very much that.

P.S. After posting this last night, played the original recording of "Remember
When The Music," by Chapin. The QUALITY of the lyrics is standout. They are
poetically infused.

* Happens to all of us.
** Sleet can obscure the beauty of the winter, though. Wonder if Heather, with
white legs, experienced that.

[Kush]

Things that make you go hmmm....

Rocker Bruce Springsteen stands accused of dancing in the dark with someone other than wife Patti Scialfa, as a New Jersey man blames The Boss for the breakup of his marriage.

A recent report in Star magazine revealed divorce papers filed by Arthur Kelly include the allegation that his wife, Ann Kelly, “committed adultery with one Bruce Springsteen, who resides in Rumson, N.J., and Colts Neck, N.J., at various times and places too numerous to mention.”

An insider told the magazine the news isn’t shocking to the Monmouth County community.
“Ann says she and Bruce are just friends, but there have been rumors going around the area for more than a year that they had gotten way too close after meeting at a local gym,” the source said.

[Kush]

Stephen Foster's Hard Times Come Again no More (written in 1854) from the Houston concert this month. I see there are a few additions to the travelling band of merry men and women. But why is C. Clemons sitting down?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHrqpOju0k8

(sound isnt too great ...hoping for an official video of the song on his website soon.)

[Steven]

Hi Kush,

A version of "Hard Times Come Again No More," that is minimalistically pure and
superb is the one recorded by Johnny Cash on "Unearthed." Will watch the
link you posted. An aside about Stephen Foster, he died with less than a dollar
in his pocket, in the Bowery, destitute. Hard times were there for him at the end,
unfortunately. A Leonard Cohen lyrical connection (I'd think, unless he drew it from
other parlance) is from the Foster song, "Old Black Joe." Leonard's "Everybody
Knows" (as most here know) contains: "Old black Joe's still pickin' cotton..."
Re: the Springsteen story, I wish all parties connected with that story well.

[Diane]

Another compelling story in song is "The Highwayman,"
sung by Phil Ochs and based on a poem by Alfred Noyes. -- I like the melody on
this Ochs tune.

Yes, that's a good one, too. The haunting sense of an urgent unanswered calling (for someone) kinda reminds me of Walter de la Mare's poem The Listeners.

Kush, here's Hard Times from the same concert with bit better sound quality:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_JuklI_w2A

Listening to this makes me wish for another Seeger Sessions album...

Yeah Clarence must find it hard to stand for three plus hours these days. I just wiki'd for his age and he's older than I'd guessed: 67. Here's another vid. with poor sound quality, but catching a nice intro of the band and with the biggest talk up as usual reserved for Clarence. Followed by the second part of Mary's Place, which I notice has been on the setlist on this Tour, along with other Rising numbers (but no Worlds Apart). Great song, live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUY7cZbXPR4

Btw I wonder if Clarence's son plays sax? Cos we've had Danny's son playing accordion, Max's son on drums on this current Tour, and Bruce's eldest son singing and playing guitar at the end of the last Tour.

[Kush]

Steven....yes I knew he died with literally less than a dollar in his pocket. The times they have a-changed for present day songwriters. I have not heard J Cash's but Mavis Staples version is my favorite. Her voice somehow carries the pain and burden that the song evokes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxRr5O8tI1c

Diane....I heard the "standard" version of Layla and I dont know...think I'll stick to the original, that is, my original. The standard is quite standard whereas the jazz version is quite jazzy (think I should keep my day job and not be a writer??).
Will catch up with your latest links later on.

[Diane]

The jazz version is quite jazzy, but it's a bit fuzzy. When I was young I'd go to a Clapton gig, and first he'd generally mesmerise me with his guitar genius, and then at some point the opening riff of Layla would come soaring out of nowhere with a kind of focus and energy and rawness that stoned me to my soul, to nick Van's words.

[Steven]

Hi Diane,

Just got reacqainted with "The Listeners." Yes, the Noyes' poem also reminds me
of it. I've had some good times with friends "driving deep into the night"
through some dark forested areas where the moon (due to no other ambient
land-based light being present) is especially noticeable. I've been known to
spontaneously emit: "The moon was a ghostly galleon..." as in the Noyes'
poem/Ochs' song. Friends can be tolerant.

[Steven]

Hi Kush and Diane,

Got caught up on the links. The Mavis Staples version of "Hard Times Come Again
No More," is a very good one, particularly in tandem with the still photos that were put to it. That link could be an effective in-class teaching tool for lots of subjects (history and social studies included). Enjoyed most of the other links, but not the cocophonous ones. Springsteen's harmonica had a wail at the end of "Remember When" that was
moving (if I'm remembering the song that he played it on correctly). Replayed
Chapin's original recording of "Remember When." -- There was a palpable sadness
to his voice there. He was the real deal, when it came to artistic honesty.

[Kush]

Hi Diane and Steven,

Just saw the Springsteen links....yeah I was surprised too to see how much older Clarence was from the other guys who are all in the 58-60 age group and the women (Patti and Suzie) and just a few years younger. I think Springsteen said somewhere that they were a late maturing group in the late 70s and 80s when they became huge rock stars but were actually already in their mid 30s.
Yeah...the Hard Times link is much better but still hoping for an official release. Steven...the Mavis Staples version is from the Beautiful Dreamers: Songs of Stephen Foster album released a few years ago with all contemporary artists. Very nice album.
I am hearing Bob Seger's Fire Inside album at work (the only one I have) and wondering why he does not have Springsteen's high profile. Based on atleast this album it sounds like one of the better E Street releases. Not a filler in the album.
The title track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5XsDMXFPAI

I was back in the Windy city this past weekend for more "cacophonous ones". Nothing like "a ballistic assault on scales" (as someone described it) to get on a high.