Bonnie Raitt is releasing a new album this month, Dig in Deep. The new album is a follow-up to 2012’s Slipstream, which was the first CD released on Raitt’s own Redwing Records label. The new album includes three songs she wrote plus two songs she co-wrote.
American Songwriter notes that Raitt still seeks “words and music that resonate with the emotional puzzles she’s trying to solve in her own heart.” But as the 66-year-old singer has aged, those puzzles and the way she sings about them have changed too.
The first single from Raitt’s new album is “Gypsy in Me.” The song takes the typical story of a man seeking the open road and changes it around. In Raitt’s telling, the woman is the one telling her “honey” goodbye as she heads out for the road: “But I’m like the wind and I just keep blowing free / Must be the gypsy in me, yeah.” Check it out.
Dig in Deep hits stores and the Internet on February 26, 2016.
What is your favorite Bonnie Raitt song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
During Bruce Springsteen‘s current The River tour with the E Street Band, Springsteen celebrates the 1980 album each night by playing all of the songs from the album in order. While one may debate which song on The River is the best, it is hard to dismiss the popularity of Springsteen’s first top-ten hit, “Hungry Heart,” which went to number five on the Billboard charts at the time of its release.
The current tour also promotes the new release of The River along with outtakes and the album Springsteen almost released instead of The River in 1979. The box set The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (2015) is a fun exploration of a road not taken even as it affirms The Boss for the most part made the correct choices.
“Hungry Heart” always has been one of my favorite Springsteen songs, even though its production — including speeded up lead vocals — sounds different from many of the other E Street Band songs I love. The original also features amazing backing vocals from Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan (aka Flo & Eddie) of The Turtles.
Perhaps another reason “Hungry Heart” sounds a little different from other Springsteen songs is that Springsteen initially wrote the song for The Ramones. But after writing the song, Springsteen decided to keep it. Joey Ramone explains the genesis of the song in this video, and Springsteen more recently told the story to Jimmy Fallon too.
Another way the song is somewhat unusual is the uplifting music combined with what otherwise would be a depressing tale of heartbreak. The song begins with the singer telling us he left his wife and kids in Baltimore. Similarly, in Arizona, I once met a man who had run away from his wife and kids back East somewhere to start a new life. I always recall him being from Baltimore, but I suspect I conflated his story with the song. Anyway, he did not seem to regret his choice at the time we spoke, but I later heard that he eventually went back East.
The singer in “Hungry Heart,” however, makes no return. He keeps looking for home and a place to rest, similar to the hero in the poem that inspired the title of the song: Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses” (“For always roaming with a hungry heart / Much have I seen and known”).
Yet, despite the sad story of the lyrics, “Hungry Heart” is still a joyous song. Like Bob Dylan’s great “Like a Rolling Stone,” Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” gains a new meaning from the band. The uplifting music and the singer’s joy in singing about his quest defines the song. Although the singer never finds a new family or enduring love, his recognition that we are all looking for the same thing provides some comfort.
The singer never declares he is alone with his hungry heart, and the chorus does not exclaim “I’ve got a hungry heart.” Through his travels he joyously realizes that while in many ways each person must walk one’s life alone, we are bound to all other humans who also must do the same. Everybody’s got a hungry heart.
I like the following recent E Street Band performance of “Hungry Heart” that took place in Toronto on February 2, 2016. It is a nice quality fan video, and I love how Jake Clemons (Clarence’s nephew) is able to keep playing his saxophone as he helps the crowd-surfing Springsteen back to his feet. Check it out.
Bruce Springsteen has yet to have a number one song on the Billboard charts, but he did surpass the number five position achieved by “Hungry Heart” four years later. In 1984, another song about loneliness, “Dancing in the Dark” went to number two on the charts.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Ulysses”
In The New Yorker, Joan Acocella recently wrote an article “Up From the Hold” reviewing a new book on the history of tap dancing, What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing, by Brian Seibert. The article gives a fascinating overview of what sounds like an interesting tale about the style of dance and the people who kept tap dancing alive as an art form.
One of the stars portrayed in the book is Gregory Hines, who was born on February 14, 1946 in New York City. The article quotes Siebert’s description of an extended Hines dance sequence in the film White Nights (1985). The dance was choreographed by Twyla Tharp and features Hines and ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Watching the two men, Siebert concludes that it is “difficult to choose which one to watch, which shade of cool to savor.” Check out this dance scene from White Nights, where Hines and Baryshnikov define cool.
Fans expected Hines to take tap even further. He appeared on TV and Broadway in addition to films. And he worked in various ways to promote tap dancing as an art form.
Even though Gregory Hines passed away at the relatively young age of 57 in 2003, his work lives on, not only through his recorded work but through those he taught and influenced. Among others, Hines influenced tap dance artists like the outstanding Savion Glover.
What is your favorite tap dancing scene in a film? Leave your two cents in the comments.
The band explains that the video was made using an “airplane that flies parabolic maneuvers to provide brief periods of weightlessness.” The video was shot in one take, although segments were edited out because the longest period of weightlessness on the airplane is around 27 seconds. Check it out.
For more information on how the video was made, check out the band’s FAQ. “Upside Down & Inside Out” is from the band’s album Hungry Ghosts (2014). The band members of OK Go are Damian Kulash, Tim Nordwind, Dan Konopka, and Andy Ross.
What is your favorite OK Go video? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In Michael Burlingame’s excellent two-volume biography Abraham Lincoln: A Life, the author recounts songs that Abraham Lincoln loved and used to sing as a young man. Lincoln loved poetry, so it is not surprising that some of the songs came from poetry.
Burlingame also recounts Lincoln’s fondness for poems and songs that focused on mortality and death, perhaps because Lincoln’s mother had died when he was young and because one of his first loves, Ann Rutledge, died at the young age of 22 on August 25, 1835.
Lincoln biographies list several songs Lincoln used to sing. In some cases, the titles may be all that are remembered while in other cases some of the lyrics are recalled. As a young attorney, he often sang songs called “Mary’s Dream,” “The Soldier’s Dream,” and “Lord Ullin’s Daughter.”
Lincoln’s Favorite Song
Burlingame recounts that Lincoln’s favorite song was the ballad, “Twenty Years Ago,” which was written by by William Willing. Lincoln sang the song often in Illinois and continued to sing it while in the White House.
In the song “Twenty Years Ago,” the singer looks back on those who have passed away. Some of the lines from the song that Lincoln especially loved included: “I visited the old churchyard, and took some flowers to strew / Upon the graves of those we loved, some twenty years ago.” The recording below features Matthew Sabatella and the Rambling String Band performing the song.
“Lord Ullin’s Daughter”
One song Lincoln sang as a young attorney is “Lord Ullin’s Daughter,” which is based on a poem by Thomas Campbell. In the poem and song, Lord Ullin pursues his eloping daughter and her lover to punish the young man who stole his daughter.
Ultimately, Lord Ullin regrets his pursuit. His chase leads to the young couple drowning: “The waters wild went o’er his child,/ And he was left lamenting.”
In this video for “Lord Ullin’s Daughter,” the music that accompanies the song was written in more modern times. Still, this version gives one an idea of what Lincoln sang.
“John Anderson’s Lamentation”
As a boy, Lincoln used to sing another song about death, the hanging ballad called “John Anderson’s Lamentation.” He even made up additional verses for the song, including:
Much intoxication my ruin has been, And my dear companion hath barbarously slain: In yonder cold graveyard the body doth lie; Whilst I am condemned, and shortly must die.
“William Riley”
Another source claims that the young Lincoln also enjoyed and sang the song “William Riley.” Apparently, it is the same song that also went by the name “Riley’s Courtship,” about a man named William or Willie Riley.
“Riley’s Courtship” tells a story that is similar to “Lord Ullin’s Daughter,” but it has a happier ending. In the song, Riley courts a squire’s daughter but is banished to Ireland. The young woman, Colleen Bawn, misses her love and becomes insane.
Unlike some of Lincoln’s other favorite songs, though, this one ends on a lighter note. Riley returned and rescued Bawn, who regained her sanity upon seeing her love. And her father repented and gave the couple lots of money.
A Young Boy’s Sad Songs
When we think of Abraham Lincoln, we usually think of him as the Great Emancipator and our greatest president, as if he came out of nowhere. But it is interesting to imagine him also as a boy and young man, joyfully singing songs that might one day prepare him for dealing with sad and serious issues as an adult.
Photo of Lincoln in 1846 (around age 37) via public domain.For discussion of a popular Lincoln campaign song, check out our post on “Lincoln & Liberty Too!” Leave your two cents in the comments.
(2015) is a fun exploration of a road not taken even as it affirms The Boss for the most part made the correct choices.
In The New Yorker, Joan Acocella recently wrote an article “
, by Brian Seibert. The article gives a fascinating overview of what sounds like an interesting tale about the style of dance and the people who kept tap dancing alive as an art form.
, the author recounts songs that Abraham Lincoln loved and used to sing as a young man. Lincoln loved poetry, so it is not surprising that some of the songs came from poetry.
