#084
Swing Out Sister
Well I’m gonna tell you about girls.
They’re all over this world
Some have beautiful shapes
I want to live to be ninety-eight
Yeah, somebody to talk to
And I like to look at you
Yeah, somebody to talk to
And I love to look at you
‘Cause you’re a real fine girl
Last week in Paree
I was hanging down with Suzee
That crazy French magazine
She turned me backwards to a new scene
‘Cause she was somebody to talk to
And to tell my troubles to
She was somebody that’s so fine
Worth my looking in to
She’s a beautiful girl, girl, girl
Iggy Pop – Girls
Na semana em que o mundo perdeu Gal Costa consagro esta m4we às mulheres, como diria o outro, paletes de mulheres, esta semana é dedicada às manas, as sisters doing it right for themselves na arena da pop mundial, que enchem as medidas (90-60-90 até parece um catálogo de fita de cassete) de quem as ouve seja em pequenas salas ou estádios cheios e daí o pender na escolha desta semana quer em cima de nomes menos dados ao bafejar da fama quer a outros de renome inscrito em discos de ouro e platina.
Algumas não são compostas ou gravadas por mulheres, So Weit Wie Noch Nie é talvez a canção mais conhecida do músico alemão Jürgen Paape, que a gravou em 2002, contendo um sample da música de 1972 Vielleicht Schon Morgen de Daliah Lavi como acompanhamento à voz de Sonya Lübke. Nesse mesmo ano o single foi incluído na compilação Total 3 da Kompakt e posicionou-se no Pitchfork 500, com um elogio de “uma mistura oscilante e inebriante de baixo pesadão, silvos de lata de spray e um quente cobertor de sintetizadores” e ainda é hoje recordado como um dos mais prazerosos technos da década dos 00s, tendo sido nesse mesmo ano regravada por Justus Köhncke no álbum Was ist Musik.
Porque é como o “padrinho” James Brown dizia, “it’s a man’s world” e daí até chegamos mesmo a poder ouvir a voz masculina de James Chance na versão de (Tropical) Heat Wave retirada do seu primeiro album Off White, produzido por August Darnell para a ZE Records nem que seja para podermos ouvir a voz da sua então namorada, Anya Phillips que no ano anterior havia aberto o famoso Mudd Club em Nova Iorque. Mas se é mesmo um mundo de homens então eles que abram os cordões à bolsa e ofereçam prendas caras às miúdas, pelo menos é assim que pensa a little girl from Little Rock Marylin Monroe quando canta Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend, tema do filme Gentlemen Prefer Blondes onde contracena com a morena Jane Russell que também não se fica a carpir pelas esquinas…
No seu quarto, Joel e a sua mala
Um olhar nas suas roupas e um quadro na parede
Sem pena, sem remorsos, a porta bateu e Joel saiu
Não tenho esta ultra rara versão cantada em português do Brasil de I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango) por Grace Jones mas podem sempre ouvir tal coisa se assim o quiserem em: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQprOR13IE
Memphis Minnie, a Queen of the Country Blues, titulo que nem faz bem luz à importância que teve esta solitária voz feminina num quase exclusivamente masculino universo da cena country blues dos anos 20 na América. A mais velha de 13 irmãos apesar de ter sido sempre tratada como “Kid”, andou metida nos circuitos musicais que faziam itinerário com os circos até integrar a lendária Memphis Jug Band e ser descoberta pela Columbia. Bumble Bee que aqui escolhi é shellac editado pela Vocalion em 1930 e que sirva, para quem não a conheça, como introdução a esta grande figura do blues.
Idas ao cinema e ao teatro em actividades culturais é o mote escolhido para as duas escolhas nacionais, de um lado Gabriela Schaaf com Leva-Me ao Cinema, escrito por Carlos Tê e que ainda hoje é um dos grandes temas gravados no LP Outra Vez produzido em 1982 por Jerry Marotta e Nuno Rodrigues que vinha da Banda do Casaco. Por outro a grande Amália com Summertime, o clássico de Gershwin editado no LP Amália na Broadway, arranjado e conduzido por Norman William Paramor, compositor, arranjador e produtor de tantos nomes sonantes como Cliff Richard, Helen Shapiro, Frankie Vaughan, Ricky Valance, entre muitos outros e que até à sua morte em 1979 competia taco-a-taco com George Martin na quantidade de british hit singles produzidos.
Amália Rodrigues já não era uma desconhecida dos palcos americanos, desde a sua estreia em 1952 quando ficou 14 semanas em cena num clube para culminar num convite para aparecer no ano seguinte no programa da CBS apresentado por Eddie Fischer. Talvez muita gente não saiba mas o primeiro disco editado por Amália em 1954 tem o selo da Angel e chama-se Amália Rodrigues Sings Fado From Portugal and Flamenco From Spain. É talvez por isso que haja uma grande emoção impregnada neste disco editado em 1984 a partir de gravações realizadas em 1965 e que a Celluloid re-editaria em 1992 com o nome de American Songs.
Mas até mesmo em terras europeias mais a montante escolheu-se esta semana coisas impossíveis de não figurarem numa lista deste género: Monika Liu com Sentimentai, representação Lituana no Festival da Eurovisão deste ano, uma canção cheia de charme na voz de uma interprete de grande pinta; Severija com Zu Asche, Zu Staub da banda sonora da excelente série televisiva Babylon Berlin para a qual o Frederico Sanches Cunha, amigo do tempo do liceu, me alertou da sua existência. Ou ainda Татьяна Кочергина num re-edit do seu hit Любовi Цвiт que traz agora para a ribalta esta obscura figura da pop soviética na transição dos 70s para os 80.
Aproveito para meter a escrita em dia em relação a mitos como Sheila Savithri Elizabeth Chandra aqui revisitando em 1999 o tema Ever So Lonely originalmente gravado por ela no projecto Monsoon em 1981; Lebleba, actriz egípcia de origem arménia com Ana Alby Har Nar e uma das representantes da magnificações compilação Sharayet El Disco (Egyptian Disco & Boogie Cassettes 1982-1992) editada este ano; uma das inspirações sónicas dos Pizzicato Five, Reiko Mari com Saike Na Machi; a fantástica e infelizmente não mais conhecida Asha Puthli com I’m Gonna Dance ou até mesmo Isabelle Mayereau com Jeux de Regards:
C’est un monde parallèle
Aux gestes saccadés
Où les mains se dégèlent
Sous des tables, cachées
Cest un monde contre monde
Aux histoires compliquées
Où les amours se fondent
Dans des endroits foncés
Pois, esta semana decidi que era mesmo altura de dar mais crédito a todo um legado feminino na linha histórica da pop, não num sentido #MeToo, mais como um tão fundamental salutar, about fucking time, de como sem estas vozes muito diferente seria a nossa percepção da musica popular, como se tudo pudesse ter ido noutro sentido. Deixei de fora nomes imprescindiveis como Dorothy Ashby, de um mundo onde até as tratamos pelo primeiro nome não incluí Aretha ou Janis, mas porque tenho sempre que muito bem escolher o muito que tenho para escolher. Talvez mesmo por isso decidi acabar com The End of the World por Sharon Van Etten, versão de uma canção de Skeeter Davis. O original data de 1962 enquanto que esta minha escolha é a faixa de abertura de Resistance Radio: The Man In The High Castle Album, banda sonora inventada para a série baseada no livro que valeu o prémio Hugo ao escritor Philip K. Dick e que versa sobre um futuro alternativo onde quase nada é como estávamos à espera…
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
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Well I’m gonna tell you about girls.
They’re all over this world
Some have beautiful shapes
I want to live to be ninety-eight
Yeah, somebody to talk to
And I like to look at you
Yeah, somebody to talk to
And I love to look at you
‘Cause you’re a real fine girl
Last week in Paree
I was hanging down with Suzee
That crazy French magazine
She turned me backwards to a new scene
‘Cause she was somebody to talk to
And to tell my troubles to
She was somebody that’s so fine
Worth my looking in to
She’s a beautiful girl, girl, girl
Iggy Pop – Girls
In the week that the world lost Gal Costa, I consecrate this m4we to women, full truck loads of women (as a moustachioed old git once said), this week is dedicated to all the sisters, the ones doing it right for themselves in the world of pop where they fill all measurements (90-60-90 even looks like a cassette tape catalogue) of those who listen to them, whether in small rooms or filled out stadiums, hence the decision to choose this week, either lesser names kissed by the breath of fame or others of renown inscribed on gold and platinum records.
Some are not composed or recorded by women, So Weit Wie Noch Nie is perhaps the best-known song by German musician Jürgen Paape, who recorded it in 2002, containing a sample of Daliah Lavi’s 1972 song Vielleicht Schon Morgen as accompaniment to the voice of Sonya Lübke. That same year the single was included on Kompakt’s Total 3 compilation and charted on the Pitchfork 500 list, with a praise of “a wobbly, heady mix of heavy bass, spray can hisses and a warm blanket of synths” and still today is remembered as one of the most enjoyable technos of the 00s, having been re-recorded that same year by Justus Köhncke on the album Was ist Musik.
Because it’s like “godfather” James Brown used to say: “it’s a man’s world” and from there we even get to hear James Chance’s male voice in the version of (Tropical) Heat Wave taken from his first album Off White, produced by August Darnell to ZE Records, even if only so that we could listen to the voice of his then-girlfriend, Anya Phillips, who the year before had opened the famous Mudd Club in New York. But if it really is a world of men, then they should pull their purse strings and offer expensive gifts to these girls, at least that’s how little girl from Little Rock Marylin Monroe thinks when she sings Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend, theme from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, where she plays alongside Jane Russell, one top brunette who doesn’t really come out all that bad in the equation…
No seu quarto, Joel e a sua mala
Um olhar nas suas roupas e um quadro na parede
Sem pena, sem remorsos, a porta bateu e Joel saiu
I don’t have this ultra rare Brazilian Portuguese sung version of I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango) by Grace Jones but you can always listen to it if you want to at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQprOR13IE
Memphis Minnie, the Queen of the Country Blues, a title that doesn’t even make light of the importance that this solitary female voice had in the almost exclusively male universe of the country blues scene of the 20’s in America. The eldest of 13 siblings, despite having always been addressed as “Kid”, she was involved in the musical circuits that made itineraries with circuses until joining the legendary Memphis Jug Band and being discovered by the Columbia label. This Bumble Bee I chose here is shellac edited by Vocalion in 1930 and that serves, for those who don’t know her, as an introduction to this great blues figure.
The cultural activities of going to the movies or to the theatre is the motto chosen for my two lusitanian picks, on one hand Gabriela Schaaf with Leva-Me ao Cinema, written by Carlos Tê and which is still one of the great tunes recorded in the LP Outra Vez produced in 1982 by Jerry Marotta and Nuno Rodrigues who came from Banda do Casaco. On the other hand, the great Amália with Summertime, Gershwin’s classic published on the LP Amália on Broadway, arranged and conducted by Norman William Paramor, composer, arranger and producer of so many big names such as Cliff Richard, Helen Shapiro, Frankie Vaughan, Ricky Valance among many others and who until his death in 1979 competed head-to-head with George Martin fot the top slot of British hit singles produced.
Amália Rodrigues was no longer a stranger to the American stages, since her debut in 1952 when she spent 14 weeks singing in a club in NYC that culminated in an invitation to appear the following year on the CBS program hosted by Eddie Fischer. Maybe a lot of people don’t know but the first record released by Amália in 1954 has the Angel label and is called Amália Rodrigues Sings Fado From Portugal and Flamenco From Spain. This is perhaps why there is a great emotion imbued in this album, put out only in 1984 but from recordings made in 1965 and that Celluloid would re-publish in 1992 under the title of American Songs.
But into European lands further upstream, things were chosen this week that were impossible not to appear on this kind of listing: Monika Liu with Sentimentai, Lithuanian representation in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, a song full of charm in the voice of a performer of great panache; Severija with Zu Asche, Zu Staub from the soundtrack of the excellent television series Babylon Berlin unto which Frederico Sanches Cunha, a friend from high school, alerted me about its existence. Or even Татьяна Кочергина in a re-edit of her hit Любовi Цвiт that now brings to the spotlight this obscure figure of Soviet pop in the transition from the 70s to the 80s.
I take the opportunity to catch up on writing about myths such as Sheila Savithri Elizabeth Chandra here revisiting in 1999 the song Ever So Lonely originally recorded by her in the Monsoon project in 1981; Lebleba, Egyptian actress of Armenian origin with Ana Alby Har Nar and one of the representatives on the compilation Sharayet El Disco (Egyptian Disco & Boogie Cassettes 1982-1992) released this year; one of Pizzicato Five’s sonic inspirations, Reiko Mari with Saike Na Machi; the fantastic and unfortunately not better known Asha Puthli with I’m Gonna Dance or even Isabelle Mayereau with Jeux de Regards:
C’est un monde parallèle
Aux gestes saccadés
Où les mains se dégèlent
Sous des tables, cachées
Cest un monde contre monde
Aux histoires compliquées
Où les amours se fondent
Dans des endroits foncés
Well, this week I decided that it was really time to give more credit to a whole female legacy in the pop history line, not in a #MeToo sense, more as a fundamental salute, about fucking time, of how without these voices very different would be our perception of popular music, as if everything could have gone in some other direction. I left out essential names like Dorothy Ashby, from a world where we even call them by their first name, I didn’t include Aretha or Janis, but all because I always have to choose very well how much I have to choose from. Maybe that’s why I decided to end with The End of the World by Sharon Van Etten, version of a song by Skeeter Davis. The original dates from 1962, while my choice is the opening track for Resistance Radio: The Man In The High Castle Album, a soundtrack invented for the series based on the book that won the Hugo award to the writer Philip K. Dick and which deals with an alternate future where almost nothing is as we expected…
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
Portishead – Western Eyes
Craig Armstrong – This Love
Roberta Flack – Feel Like Makin’ Love (The Reflex Revision)
Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band – Hard Times
Gabriela Schaaf – Leva-Me ao Cinema
Ella Fitzgerald – Too Darn Hot (RAC Mix)
Emel Mathlouthi – Ma Lkit (Not Found)
Feist – Inside And Out
Sharades – Dumb Head
Grace Jones – I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)
Sheila Chandra – Ever So Lonely
Heiwa Beats – Cherish The Day (Elizrae Lo-Fi Bootleg)
Severija – Zu Asche, Zu Staub (Psycho Nikoros)
Combustible Edison – The Millionaire’s Holiday
Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Hard-Boiled Babe
Marilyn Monroe – Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend (Swing Cats Remix)
Propellerheads – History Repeating ft. Shirley Bassey
Jurgen Paape – So Weit Wie Noch Nie
Memphis Minnie – Bumble Bee
Lebleba – Ana Alby Har Nar
Luke Solomon, Amy Douglas, Queen Rose – Light You Up (feat. Queen Rose & Amy Douglas) (Louie Vega Remix)
Cool Hipnoise – Sem Plano ft. Simone de Oliveira
Blue Boy – Remember Me (Original 12″)
Alex Gopher – The Child
Groove Armada – At the River
Reiko Mari – Saike Na Machi
Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott – The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
Isabelle Mayereau – Jeux de Regards
Monika Liu – Sentimentai
Carmen Lundy – Have a Little Faith
Amalia – Summertime
James White & The Blacks – (Tropical) Heat Wave
Asha Puthli – I’m Gonna Dance
Dames Brown – What Would You Do ft Andrés & Amp Fiddler (Two Soul Fusion Remix)
Rosemary Clooney – Just One of Those Things
Tom Tom Club – L’Elephant
Татьяна Кочергина – Любовi Цвiт (The Paper Edit)
The Supremes – Baby Love
Teruko Akatsuki – Melon Wa Ikaga
Sharon Van Etten – The End of the World