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Restos de Colecção V
Sessenta edições de Music for the Weekend, um balanço de 2400 canções escolhidas, para mim um trabalho de memória e homenagem, para quem as ouve um serpentear pelos rios e afluentes da mais clássica pop universal.
Começo com Shangri-La, uma composição do violinista Matty Malneck com o harpista Robert Maxwell, aqui interpretada pelos pianistas Ferrante & Teicher, dupla americana conhecida pelos seus arranjos de canções populares, música clássica e bandas sonoras. Gravaram ao todo 150 álbuns com 22 galardões de ouro e platina, vendendo 90 milhões de discos e realizando 5200 concertos até se retirarem em 1989.
Salto de seguida para uma que não entrou na m4we#056 dedicada a cover versions, com o mestre Johnny Cash a cantar Personal Jesus, escrita por Martin Gore dos Depeche Mode, continuando por aí a fora com outras preciosidades que não conseguiram ficar nas selecções para as quais foram escolhidas tendo aqui direito a um second shot.
Nenhuma é repescada de modo desinteressado. Aqui o gratuito paga-se, com o esforço necessário para fazer colar coisas tão díspares. Mas o patchwork mal se nota quando o fio do novelo é de qualidade. Exemplos: a fantástica Viviane que em 2009 integrou o projecto Rua da Saudade e que aqui nos deixa Cavalo à Solta, merecida homenagem ao poema de Ary dos Santos. Ou Catfish, um outtake do album Desire que Bob Dylan gravou em 1975, mas aqui gravado magistralmente por Joe Cocker no LP Stingray de 1976 e principalmente maravilhoso já que até ao fim dos 90 só existiam bootlegs do original. Note-se que também de Dylan não só aqui veio parar It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry, uma electrizante rendition pelo trio composto por Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper e Steve Stills e gravada em 1968 no disco Super Session como ainda escolhi Like a Rolling Stone na versão gravada pelos The Undisputed Truth em 1971.
Da m4we#050 dedicada aos Milagres e Romarias fui buscar umas quantas coisas: Ernest Martin & His Gospel Melody Makers com When The Wrath Of God Comes Down, os Converters no muito apropriado I’ve Been Converted e mesmo os Wisdom em Let the Lord Come in Your Life. Mas nenhuma história relacionada com estas canções poderia bater o secularismo gadelhudo da novela que rodeia o sucesso e a desgraça em torno da Soeur Sourire e do seu single Dominique.
Dominique, nique, nique
S’en allait tout simplement
Routier, pauvre et chantant
En tous chemins, en tous lieux
Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu
Nascida na Bélgica em 1928, Jeanine Deckers foi como noviça para um convento dominicano, onde regularmente deliciava as outras freiras com as suas canções acompanhadas ao violão. De tal forma que a madre superior convenceu a Philips a editar um disco em 1962. Ao qual se seguiram mais 6 no espaço de um ano. Soeur Sourire transformou-se em Sister Smile e depois em Singing Nun (seria já este o nome usado na interpretação por Debbie Reynolds na homónima longa metragem). Pois não se sabe muito bem como mas a canção do primeiro album aqui escolhida chegou ao lugar cimeiro dos tops de vendas um pouco por todo o lado, incluindo os EUA e dando começo a uma moda que nos iria trazer a Musica no Coração entre outras coisas. Deckers que durante uns anos andou escudada de todo este fungagá não demonstrou grande verticalidade eclesial eclodindo o comentário ao filme de 1966 como “absolutamente idiota”. Mudou-se então para uma Terceira Ordem, de membros leigos, invocando dúvidas na sua dedicação ao Senhor. Continuou a gravar mas desta feita entrando em rota de colisão com a Igreja e mesmo com a sua base de fãs mais católicos ao editar uma ode à contracepção chamada La Pilule D’or com direito a concertos cancelados e outros “descarrilares” de carreira.
Nos anos 70 ainda editou este mesmo sucesso mas com uma batida disco mas foi momento de inspiração pouco divinal e a coisa não resultou. Foi aí que o fisco belga decidiu começar a chatear sobre uma avultada soma em royalties que Deckers dizia nunca ter recebido. Suicidou-se por overdose de barbitúricos a 29 de Março de 1985. Na sua lápide pode-se ler: J’ai vu voler son âme / A travers les nuages.
A decisão de Here Comes the Sun cantado por Nina Simone para a minha trigésima nona escolha é engodo para a Lidija Kolovrat escolher a resposta. É sempre assim nestes Restos de Colecção, a ultima é sempre escolhida por um criador de moda. A resposta da Lidija foi um pouco criptica mas deu a entender uma enorme apreciação por Leonard Cohen. Lógicamente perguntei-lhe qual canção e porquê. Como sempre tem de haver uma explicação para a escolha criativa na resposta musical mas desta volta tive como refuta “Feeling ?”. Conclui que assim que me cabia acertar naquilo que melhor se inscrevia à finalização desta playlist. Apesar de Songs Of Leonard Cohen de 1967 e Death Of A Ladies’ Man gravado dez anos depois serem dois dos meus álbuns favoritos do poeta decidi que tinha de ir a um outro em demanda da resposta necessária. Coordenado e misturado por Leanne Ungar em 1988 o album I’m Your Man encerra com a canção Tower of Song.
Na biografia Various Positions, publicada em 1996 pela pena de Ira Nadel, refere-se que nesta canção Cohen desejava produzir “a definitive statement about the heroic enterprise of the craft of songwriting. In the early eighties, he called the work “Raise My Voice in Song”. His concern was with the ageing songwriter, and the “necessity to transcend one’s own failure by manifesting as the singer, as the songwriter.” He had abandoned the song, but one night in Montreal he finished the lyrics and called an engineer and recorded it in one take with a toy synthesizer”.
Versões sem conta existem desta canção, Nick Cave, Martha Wainright, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones (todos eles já apareceram nestas selecções) mas também The Jesus and The Mary Chain (que ainda nunca por aqui andaram mas que com certeza não deve faltar muito para uma visita), todos já gravaram Tower of Song. Canção escolhida pelo coro Shaar Hashomayim com interpretações pré-gravadas de Willie Nelson, Céline Dion, Peter Gabriel e Chris Martin para abrir a segunda parte da performance no Bell Centre de Montreal onde se homenageou a obra de Cohen a 6 de Novembro de 2017. E também o poema que o próprio Cohen recitou quando foi galardoado com entrada no Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Por todas estas razões achei que a escolha era mais que propositada e digna da sugestão da Lidija Kolovrat.
Well, my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I’m crazy for love but I’m not coming on
I’m just paying my rent every day in the Tower of Song
I said to Hank Williams, how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
Oh, a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song
Que este seja um fim de semana em que as margens do rio sejam próximas e as suas águas calmas e límpidas.
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
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Sixty editions of Music for the Weekend, a balance of 2400 songs chosen, for me a work of memory and homage, for those who hear them a winding through the rivers and affluents of the most classic universal pop.
I start with Shangri-La, a composition by violinist Matty Malneck with harpist Robert Maxwell, here performed by pianists Ferrante & Teicher, an American duo known for their arrangements of popular songs, classical music and soundtracks. They recorded a total of 150 albums with 22 gold and platinum awards, selling 90 million records and performing 5,200 concerts until they retired in 1989.
I then jump to one that didn’t make it into m4we#056 dedicated to cover versions, with master Johnny Cash singing Personal Jesus, written by Martin Gore of Depeche Mode, and so on with many other gems that didn’t make it into the selections for which they were originally chosen, getting here the right to a second shot at notoriety.
None are picked up in a detached way. Here for free means costly, with the necessary effort of having to paste such disparate things. But any patchwork is barely noticeable when the yarn on the coil is of top notch quality. Examples: the fantastic Viviane, who in 2009 was part of the Rua da Saudade project lullabying here Cavalo à Solta, a well-deserved tribute to the poem by Ary dos Santos. Or Catfish, an outtake from Desire, album that Bob Dylan recorded in 1975, but masterfully recorded here by Joe Cocker on the 1976 LP Stingray and especially wonderful since until the end of the 90’s there were only bootlegs of the original. It should be noted that it’s not the only Dylan creation coming back: It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry in an electrifying rendition by a trio composed by Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Steve Stills and recorded in 1968 for the Super Session album but coupled with a choice of Like a Rolling Stone in a version put out by The Undisputed Truth in 1971.
From the m4we#050 dedicated to “Miracles and Pilgrimages” I also redig a few things: Ernest Martin & His Gospel Melody Makers with When The Wrath Of God Comes Down, the Converters in the very appropriately named I’ve Been Converted as well as Wisdom singing Let the Lord Come in Your Life. But no story related to these songs could beat the long-haired secularism of the soap opera that surrounds the success and disgrace surrounding Soeur Sourire and her single Dominique.
Dominique, nique, nique
S’en allait tout simplement
Routier, pauvre et chantant
En tous chemins, en tous lieux
Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu
Born in Belgium in 1928, Jeanine Deckers got into a Dominican convent as a novice, where she regularly delighted the other nuns with her songs in such a way that the Mother Superior convinced Philips to publish a record in 1962. This was followed by 6 more in the space of a year. Soeur Sourire became Sister Smile and then Singing Nun (this would already be the name used in the interpretation by Debbie Reynolds in the homonymous feature film). Well, it’s not clear how, but the song from the first album chosen here reached the top of the sales charts all over the place, including the US, giving rise to a trend that would bring us The Sound of Music, among other things. Deckers, who for a few years was shielded from all this showbiz brouhaha, did not demonstrate great ecclesial verticality, breaking out to comment on the 1966 movie as “absolutely idiotic”. She then moved to a Third Order of lay members, invoking doubts in her dedication to the Lord. She continued to record but this time entering a collision course with the Church and even her more Catholic fan base by recording an ode to contraception called La Pilule D’or with the grand prize of canceled concerts and other career “derailings”.
In the 70s she still put out this same hit but with a disco beat but it was a moment of less divine inspiration and it didn’t work. That’s when the Belgian tax authorities decided to start nagging about a hefty sum in royalties that Deckers said she never received. She committed suicide by overdose of barbiturates on March 29, 1985. Her headstone reads: J’ai vu voler son âme / A travers les nuages.
The decision of Here Comes the Sun sung by Nina Simone for my thirty-ninth choice is a lure for Lidija Kolovrat to choose the answer. It’s always like this in these Restos de Colecção (Collection Remnants), the last song is always chosen by a fashion designer. Lidija’s response was a bit cryptic but hinted at a huge appreciation for Leonard Cohen. Logically I asked her “which and why”. As always, there has to be an explanation for the creative choice in the musical response but this time around I had this as rebuttal: “Feeling ?”. I concluded that it was up to me to hit on what best would sign up for the completion of this playlist. Although 1967’s Songs Of Leonard Cohen and Death Of A Ladies’ Man recorded ten years later are two of my favorite albums by the poet, I decided I had to go to another one in demand of the necessary response. Coordinated and mixed by Leanne Ungar in 1988 the album I’m Your Man ends with Tower of Song.
In the biography Various Positions, published in 1996 by the pen of Ira Nadel, it is mentioned that in this song Cohen wanted to produce “a definitive statement about the heroic enterprise of the craft of songwriting. In the early eighties, he called the work “Raise My Voice in Song.” His concern was with the ageing songwriter, and the “necessity to transcend one’s own failure by manifesting as the singer, as the songwriter.” He had abandoned the song, but one night in Montreal he finished the lyrics and called an engineer and recorded it in one take with a toy synthesizer”.
Countless versions of this song exist, Nick Cave, Martha Wainright, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones (all of them have already appeared in these selections) but also The Jesus and The Mary Chain (who have never been around here yet but surely the wait won’t be long) everyone has recorded Tower of Song. Song chosen by the Shaar Hashomayim choir with pre-recorded interpretations by Willie Nelson, Céline Dion, Peter Gabriel and Chris Martin to open the second part of the performance at the Bell Center in Montreal where Cohen’s work was honoured on November 6, 2017. And also the poem that Cohen himself recited when he was awarded entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For all these reasons I thought the choice was more than purposeful and worthy of Lidija Kolovrat’s suggestion.
Well, my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I’m crazy for love but I’m not coming on
I’m just paying my rent every day in the Tower of Song
I said to Hank Williams, how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
Oh, a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song
May this be a weekend where the river banks are close and its waters calm and clear.
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
Ferrante & Teicher – Shangri-La
Johnny Cash – Personal Jesus
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry & Subatomic Sound System – Dread Lion
Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Steve Stills – It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
George Gershwin – It Ain’t Necessarily So
Rua da Saudade – Cavalo à Solta
Pink Martini – Song Of The Black Lizard
Converters – I’ve Been Converted
Ks French – Light My Fire
Melanie – Ruby Tuesday
Kwan Li – The Legend of Harry Holt
Malcolm McLaren and The Bootzilla Orchestra – House of the Blue Danube
Voilaaa – Water No Get Enemy feat. Pat Kalla
The Beach Boys – Daybreak Over The Ocean
The Antennas – Fuji-Yama Mama
Gillian Hills – Cou Couche Panier
Joe Cocker – Catfish
Sohn – Song to the Siren
Darla Hood – My Quiet Village
Ron Wood – Far East Man
Soeur Sourire – Dominique
Judge Funk – Big In Japan
Sun Ra & His Arkestra – Over the Rainbow
Boz Scaggs – On the Beach
William Shatner – Mr. Tambourine Man
Joe Loss – Mambo In Old Lisbon
Helene Velu & The Kilats – Ku Takkan Lupakan Mu
Wisdom – Let the Lord Come in Your Life
Agent K – Feed the Cat
Ernest Martin & His Gospel Melody Makers – When The Wrath Of God Comes Down
Rita Chao with The Quests – Lonely Heart
Terry Snyder & The All Stars – Miami Beach Rhumba
Grupo Jejeje – Virgen del Carmen
Gunnam Nabi – Her
The Three Bars feat. Nicky Roberts – Caribbean Cruise
Tony Mansell with the Johnny Dankworth Orquestra – Zambezi
The Isley Brothers – The Snake
The Undisputed Truth – Like a Rolling Stone
Nina Simone – Here Comes the Sun
Leonard Cohen – Tower Of Song