Mijn favoriete zangeres van dit moment is de Amerikaanse Rachael Price, die vooral bekend is als lead-zangeres van de band Lake Street Dive. Nu overrompelt ze me met deze schitterende versie van het lied These Days van Jackson Browne, dat ze hier samen speelt met het collectief van Stories en het ensemble Ymusic.
Browne zou het lied hebben geschreven toen hij 16 was, wat me eerlijk gezegd nogal verbaast. Het komt van zijn 2e album For Everyman uit 1973. De eerste die het nummer op de plaat zette was het Duitse model & zangeres Nico (1938-1988) in 1967.
These Days Well I’ve been out walking. I don’t do that much talking, these days. These days.
These days I seem to think a lot, about the things that I forgot to do for you. And all the times I had the chance to.
And I had a lover. But it’s so hard to risk another, these days. These days.
Now if I seem to be afraid, to live the life that I have made in song. Well it’s just that I’ve been losin’ for so long.
I’ll keep on movin’, movin’ on. Things are bound to be improving these days. These days.
These days I’ll sit on corner stones. And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend. Don’t confront me with my failures. I had not forgotten them.
For a Dancer is een prachtig lied van de Amerikaanse singer/songwriter Jackson Browne, dat komt van zijn album Late For The Sky uit 1974. Hier zingt hij het in 1999 tijdens de 2 Meter Sessies en krijgt hij meerstemmige vocale ondersteuning van zijn vrienden van de groep Venice.
Hij zegt zelf het volgende over het nummer: “I wrote this for a friend of mine who died in a fire. He was in the sauna in a house that burned down, so he had no idea anything was going on. It was very sad. He was a really interesting guy. Besides being a great dancer, he was an ice skater – he had a job in the Ice Follies. And he was a great tailor – he would make his friends clothes. He was a Renaissance man. When I wrote him the song – it’s a song I’ve sung many times, other times when people have died – but I was making a metaphor out of the dance. Just the idea that your life is a dance. And there’s a line in it, ‘In the end, there is one dance you do alone.’ That’s one of the songs I’ve sung all through the years, and for me, it’s like going to that place, and dealing with the fact that life will end. It’s a sad song, but at the same time, it feels good to sort through that reality and touch base with it, and then go on.”
For a Dancer Keep a fire burning in your eye. Pay attention to the open sky. You never know what will be coming down.
I don’t remember losing track of you. You were always dancing in and out of view. I must’ve thought you’d always be around.
Always keeping things real by playing the clown. Now you’re nowhere to be found.
I don’t know what happens when people die. Can’t seem to grasp it as hard as I try. It’s like a song I can hear playing right in my ear. But I can’t sing, I can’t help listening.
And I can’t help feeling stupid standing ‘round. Crying is they ease you down. ‘Cause I know that you’d rather we were dancing.
(Dancing our sorrow away.) Right on dancing. (No matter what fate chooses to play.) There’s nothing you can do about it anyway.
Just do the steps that you’ve been shown. By everyone you’ve ever known. Until the dance becomes your very own. No matter how close to yours, another’s steps have grown. In the end there is one dance you’ll do alone.
Keep a fire for the human race. Let your prayers go drifting into space. You never know what will be coming down.
Perhaps a better world is drawing near. Just as easily it could all disappear. Along with whatever meaning you might have found.
Don’t let the uncertainty turn you around. (The world keeps turning around and around) Go on and make a joyful sound.
Into a dancer you have grown. From a seed somebody else has thrown. Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own, and somewhere between the time you arrive, and the time you go. May lie the reason you were alive, that you’ll never know.
Het lijkt me heerlijk als je zo’n goede muzikant bent, dat iedereen graag met je samen wil spelen. Zo iemand is de pianist en zanger Bruce Hornsby. Hij speelde met Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Don Henley (Eagles), Elton John, Chaka Kahn, Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), Bonnie Raitt, Robbie Robertson, Sting en Roger Waters (Pink Floyd). Maar net zo makkelijk ook jazz met Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden, Branford Marsalis, Pat Metheny en Wayne Shorter en bluegrass met Bela Fleck, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band en Ricky Skaggs.
In 1999 had hij een serie optredens samen met Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin, David Lindley (steel guitar) & Bonnie Raitt, en om dat onder de aandacht te brengen traden ze op in de tv-show van Jay Leno. Het lied End Of The Innocence werd in 1989 een hit voor Glenn Frey van de Eagles, die zelf de tekst had geschreven bij de muziek van Hornsby.
End Of The Innocence Remember when the days were long, and rolled beneath the deep blue sky. Didn’t have a care in the world, with mother and daddy standing by. “Happily ever after” fails, and we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales. The lawyers dwell on small details, since daddy had to fly.
Oh, and I know a place where we can go, still untouched by man. We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by, and the tall grass waves in the wind
You can lay your head back on the ground, and let your hair fall all around me. Offer up your best defence. Oh this is the end. Oh this is the end of the innocence.
Oh beautiful for spacious skies. Now those skies are threatening. They’re beating ploughshares into swords, for this tired old man that we elected king. Armchair warriors often fail, and we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales. The lawyers dwell on small details, since daddy had to lie.
But I know a place where we can go, and wash away this sin. We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by, and the tall grass waves in the wind
Oh you can lay your head back on the ground, and let your hair fall all around me. Offer up your best defence. But this is the end. Oh this is the end of the innocence.
Who knows how long this will last, now we’ve come so far so fast. But somewhere back there in the dust, that same small town in each of us. I need to remember this, so baby give me just one kiss. Come and take a long last look, before we say goodbye
You can lay your head back on the ground, and let your hair fall all around me. Offer up your best defence. Oh this is the end. Oh this is the end of the innocence.
Mijn favoriete zangeres van dit moment is de Amerikaanse Rachael Price, die vooral bekend is als lead-zangeres van de band Lake Street Dive. Nu overrompelt ze me met deze schitterende versie van het lied These Days van Jackson Browne, dat ze hier samen speelt met het collectief van Stories en het ensemble Ymusic.
These Days
Now if I seem to be afraid,
