Memories…Joan Baez and Amicus…

[amicus]

Memories…Joan Baez and Amicus…


In a mood tonight…forgive me…it happens now and then…

There was a girl I met…on an University campus in Florida, a long time ago…a very long time ago…who reminds me of the song, (I was thinking about her…} “Diamonds and Rust”, by Joan Baez…we went on to build a sailboat together…another story…but…

I met Joan Baez in Honolulu, somewhere in the 60’s, I was a hotshot radio guy, she took the opportunity for the publicity of an interview…accompanied by her handlers…sadly…we did not talk of music…but politics…she was left wing, anti-war and I missed a wonderful opportunity to speak of her art and I regret that and I was reminded of it tonight listening to her music…

Which brings me, I guess, to the political point of this post…even the most recalcitrant advocate will acknowledge that in the political spectrum, more artists seem to be on one side of the centerline than the other…the reasons are, of course, debatable…and we do that all the time here…

So other than a nostalgic memory of an old flame and a past recalling of more active days; and I already know all your answers and responses…but still it would be interesting to hear what y’all have to say…


(Does any one remember: “Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end,…”…

One of those nights…

Amicus…

 

[amicus]

While I am at it on this night of nostalgia for me...'Deve Ser Amor', "It Must Be Love", by Herbie Mann and Antonio Carlos Jobin, for music purists only...

I have played on the radio and listened to...(I am a poor musician on guitar and piano), music for most of my life, over a half century of paying close atttention to music, composers, performers...and this song, Deve Ser Amor...with four musicians, no vocalist...is the most evocative, emotional piece of music, ( save Rachmaninoff's Variations on a theme of Paganini) that I have ever heard...

Four musicians, Flute, Guitar, Base and drums...so in tune with each other in this piece...it is unreal...beyond expectations..amazing...astounding..thrilling and totally entertaining...

I know there are musicians here and afficionado's...if this piece is new to you, search it out, Limewire.com is free, it is there; if you know of it...speak to me!


amicus...

 

[amicus]

I may as well continue this rather maudlin trip through nostalgia since no one seems to be interested...listening now to, 'DreamBoat Annie', by Heart...who's big one was "Magic Man" I met and got a hug and a kiss on the cheek from both the Wilson sisters (Heart) way back in the 60's, when they performed at a club owned by a brother, The Caboose, in Vancouver, Washington....not that it matters...of course...but...memories....sighs....


amicus...

 

[amicus]

Lambada, the Forbidden Dance

So...I am entertaining myself on this evening...who asked you anyway...


song I used in one of my stories, 'Annie', published by PublishAmerica in a collection, "Surprises of Love", ( http://www.amazon.com/Surprises-Lov...ef=sr_1_2/002-9750160-2755241?ie=UTF8&s=books ) I recently searched for the english lyrics:

"Lambada Lyrics


IndianArtilleryAngel 05-11-05 03:14:24 AM I have been a fan of Kaoma's "Lambada" since I was a teen... here are the CORRECT english lyrics, as sang by Kid Creole & the Coconuts on the movie, THE FORBIDDEN DANCE IS LAMBADA.

I know them by heart, as I have been singing this song since I was 14 (when the movie was first released in 1990), and I never forget a song I have heard.
The Lambada (English version)
by Kaoma; featured on "The Forbidden Dance"

Now he's gone away
Only man who's ever made me cry
Not so far away
Far enough to make me wanna die
Crying over me is what he's gonna be
When he's hit by the need of my love
Crying he will be when he's dreaming of me
And decides that he needs what once was

All the memories
Follow me wherever I may go
Haunting melodies
Playing in the night to let me know
Dance along with me, with the sun and the sea
Only love makes one feel so sublime
Do a dance for me to a love fantasy
That for one precious moment was mine

(danca lambada!)

Crying he will be when he's thinking of me
And concedes to the need to be loved
Crying he will be when he's dreaming of me
And decides that he needs what once was

Dance along with me, Mister Sun, Mister Sea
Keep the feeling so strong and so tender
Do a dance for me to a love fantasy
Just for one day of total surrender

Ay-ay-ay... Danca lambada!

~~~~~~~~

Sung in Portuguese, for those of you who have heard the song, and many have, as I have learned...those are the English translations...

amicus...(ain't love wunnerful?)

 

[Huckleman2000]

I had that Joan Baez album! It was very good - I particularly liked her cover of Jackson Brown's song "Fountain of Sorrow". Not very political, but probably suits your mood.

I was looking through some photographs I found inside your drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you
There were one or two I know that you would have liked a little more
But they wouldn't show your spirit quite as true.

You were looking around to see who was behind you
And I took your childish laughter by surprise
And at the moment that my camera happened to find you
There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes.

 

[amicus]

Thanks, Huck...beginning to think I was being ignored...nothing new...but...


amicus...

 

[Huckleman2000]

No problem.

I have fond memories of that album as well. My first love had (has?) a wonderful voice, and she used to sing along with that album when I played it.

There was one song, written I think by Stevie Wonder, but I don't remember the name of it. It might have been "I'd never dream you'd leave in summer", that was the first line anyway. Joan Baez sang it with such a pure and simple voice, and my love sang it the same way.

I'm sure there were some happier songs on there, but I can only remember the melancholy ones.

 

[amicus]

Ah, Huck...that song was made very popular, if memory serves, by Robert Goulet, a Canadian, I think, "If Ever I Would Leave You"...lovely, wonderful lyrics and song...thanks again...

amicus.....

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Jesus, Amicus! As much as we disagree on everything, I'd really like to share some music with you, and you'd expect a Usual Suspect like me to fall all over Joan Baez (I was around at that time too), but I always found her politics terribly naive if not downright embarrassing and Jane Fonda-ish, and her voice - though thrilling when you first heard it (I remember someone referring to her voice as her "instrument" and understanding exactly what they meant) - finally irritating and thin. She was what? like 17 when she came out with her first album, and in my opinion she never grew an inch either as an artist or in her politics after that. Beautiful voice, no soul behind it.

Herbie Mann? Well, I knew him from his jazz days and his cover of "Coming Home Baby." Jazz Flute was still something of a novelty in those days. No, change that. Jazz flute played by a white guy was a novelty in those days.

Now Jobim - I don't know the piece you mentioned, but the man was incapable of writing a bad piece of music. Of course, he went on ro record with Stan Getz and create the whole Bossa Nova thing in the 60's.

You had to like jazz and folk back then because pop music just sucked so badly in those days. Imagine a time when "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" and "Teen Angel" were the top songs on pop radio. When folk came through it was like a breath of fresh air and everyone just filled their lungs. And then came the Beatles and the British Invasion...

I've been watching a Bob Dylan retrospectve that's been on TV lately, showing the whole thing, from the Civil Rights movement in the 60's, the folk movement, the Biritish Invasion, Rock, Viet Nam, the drug culture - his career covered it all.

Like Wordsworth said about the French Revolution: To be alive then was wonderful. To be alive and young was heaven itself.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

No fair, I wasn't born yet...!

(BTW, Ami, it was three in the morning here when you posted that... not many people were awake, even on the west coast, to hear your trip down memory lane...)

In terms of music from the era, I grew up with siblings 10-15 years old than me, and have always been an old soul in that way...

I agree with Doc's take on Baez... but there was a woman back then whose voice could have moved mountains...

two words: Janis Joplin.

'nuff said...

 

[R. Richard]

Now Jobim - I don't know the piece you mentioned, but the man was incapable of writing a bad piece of music. Of course, he went on ro record with Stan Getz and create the whole Bossa Nova thing in the 60's.

I stumbled across Jobim when I saw an old movie, "Black Orpheus." I only regret not have made the discovery earlier.

 

[Pure]

I'm pleased to remember the pure and haunting voice of JB, in her first album, songs like "I'm a rake and ramblin boy," and "Plaisir d'Amour."

To give her credit she didn't 'flip' like many 60s folks (Jerry Rubin). She ended up setting up an institute for nonviolence. It is a worthy cause with links to Gandhi and King. It will not please the 'realists' and 'objectivists' but it is a valuable ideal. She was not an intellectual or theorist, but she could speak her views, and (has) lived them.

 

[olivefun]

I stumbled across Jobim when I saw an old movie, "Black Orpheus." I only regret not have made the discovery earlier.

Black Orpheus is one of my fave movies of all time!

check it out and google it.
Quite a thing to investigate.

All black cast, won lots of awards.

So amazing.
Glad you like it.
I love Caetano Veloso from Brazil. Have you seen talk to her? He sings a fantastic song in that fairly recent movie.

 

[amicus]

Stayed up way too late and drank more than enough and toddled off to my Teddy somewhere near the crack of dawn and did not arise until the sun was well up in the Oregon sky...and...felt a little wistful and somewhat disconnected especially after reading the kind comments of Dr.Mab and Pure, usual nemisists her at AH.

But a large coffee is beginning to rejuvenate and remind me it was a rather nice journey down memory lane.

Ms. Baez, when I met her, was a very intense person, not beautiful, but striking in appearance, and yes, I much prefer other songstresses of the era, Joannie Mitchell, Judy Collins and later Carole King and Carly Simon (I listened to all of those last evening also in my collection napped from Naptser and now Limewire...) I figure I paid my dues by playing their music on radio for years and years.

But I am a jazz fan at heart and the old standards, Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'day (whom I met in Honolulu and shared a New Years Eve with long ago) June Christy, and Susannah McCorkle and of course 'the little sparrow' Edith Piaff and there are dozens and dozens more fine singers that I recall with pleasure.

I think I have mentioned before, but one of my term papers in post grad school for political science compared the presence or absence of 'jazz' as a reflection of the political freedoms enjoyed by each nation` the more freedom, the more jazz...which irritated the hell out of my polysci professor as he shared the philosophy of Mab and Pure and of course most all college professors...but of no matter...

Thanks to one and all...a pleasant awakening this morning...


amicus...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I think I have mentioned before, but one of my term papers in post grad school for political science compared the presence or absence of 'jazz' as a reflection of the political freedoms enjoyed by each nation` the more freedom, the more jazz...which irritated the hell out of my polysci professor as he shared the philosophy of Mab and Pure and of course most all college professors...but of no matter...

I don't understand why you think I'd disagree with your position on that. The only qualification I'd make is that I think tyrants like Stalin and Hitler hated jazz not so much because it represented freedom but because to them it represented "bourgeois" values (for Stalin) and racial mixing (for Hitler)

What's also ironic is that jazz itself developed under conditions of slavery in the USA, or at best, severe economic repression. Maybe that's what your prof objected to.

 

[3113]

Joannie Mitchell, Judy Collins and later Carole King and Carly Simon (I listened to all of those last evening also in my collection napped from Naptser and now Limewire...) I figure I paid my dues by playing their music on radio for years and years.

Ah. Now you're hitting my memories. Judy Collins was my first intro to music that had poetic lyrics rather than just pop-fun lyrics--most of the songs I loved sung by her having been written by Joni Mitchell. I was very young and her ablums were very profound. Carole King came next in that same vein.

I'm afraid, however, that my musical taste was never very sophistocated. I'm one of those types who always goes for the one-hit wonders and pop-tunes.

Dr. M's point about Dylan is well said. What an amazing career--and one that keeps going, with his latest album out now. How many songwriters have that kind of span?

 

[amicus]

[QUOTE=dr_mabeuse]I don't understand why you think I'd disagree with your position on that. The only qualification I'd make is that I think tyrants like Stalin and Hitler hated jazz not so much because it represented freedom but because to them it represented "bourgeois" values (for Stalin) and racial mixing (for Hitler)

What's also ironic is that jazz itself developed under conditions of slavery in the USA, or at best, severe economic repression. Maybe that's what your prof objected to.[/QUOTE]

~~~~~~

Been browsing through the 'atheist' thread...last couple pages and came back here to find a post by Mab...and an interesting one at that....but I feel a little torn between wanting to craft a reply on that thread and I fear it has filtered over to this one....

I am guilty at times of taking a position that is more of a 'common sense' one, held by many people, as the basis for a discussion, seldom questioning the factual validity of the widespread belief in whatever area of thought.

That there is an African element in jazz, I don't doubt at all, however...it seems to me that the New Orleans, St. Louis and Chicago styles of jazz all emanated after 1864, when the slaves were set free and anyone could travel about the country.

I suspect that every race and every ethnic group has, at one time or another, produced artists and musicians of world class quality. My point then and now is that under repression and oppression, such as Russia and Germany under dictatorships, few have the opportunity or the courage to use the creative facility that we all have to one degree or another.

That does not mean, quid pro quo, that a free society will produce more...but I was able to cull the numbers in such a way as to support my contention.

I would also like to add that 'jazz', the free and uncontrolled expression of emotions, differs somewhat from most other music genre's. I can be brought to tears by Rachmaninoff, startled by Liszt and Chopin, amused by Mozart and put to sleep by Mendelsson and others. Even other forms of music, Bluegrass, folk, even R&B and Rock 'n' Roll can elicit emotions of one type or another...and, of course, the blend of jazz with classical, (Swingle Singers), Jazz with R&B has produced some marvelous music.

And of course there is 'good' jazz and 'bad' jazz and in all forms of art...but then we tip toe into the subjective versus objective argument there and perhaps some other thread would be more fitting.

I want to again say, 'thanks' for the input on my midnight meander....

regards...


amicus...

 

[3113]

it seems to me that the New Orleans, St. Louis and Chicago styles of jazz all emanated after 1864, when the slaves were set free and anyone could travel about the country.

But they were no more free, Amicus, than those under Hitler or Stalin. Jim Crowe laws were very quickly enacted. What a black man could do or could not do was very limited. And being killed for being black was a common occurance. With such crimes never going to court, or, if they did, the white juries letting the white criminal go free.

Jazz blossomed right after WWI, when the KKK was at its most popular...and Black soldiers who had fought for America were being lynched. It was at this time of terrible oppression that you get the Harlem Renaissance.

Surely you've heard the Billie Holiday song, "Strange Fruit"--about men hanging from the branches of trees? And I'm guessing you're old enough to remember "Colored only" signs, battles by men bitten by dogs and hosed down with firehoses just because they wanted to sit at a lunch counter, drink at a water fountain, stay at a hotel...or send their children to school to be doctors and lawyers rather than entertainers in black face.

I don't see how you can classify "Jazz" as being a music of "freedom" when those who created it couldn't even play it with the white musicans who admired it. It's a music that came out of the greatest oppression....

 

[amicus]

Ah, 3113...I neither question nor disagree with anything you wrote above...

Nor do I apologize for humanities inslavement of Africans, as it truly happened world wide and scholars will perhaps have to explain why and why it continued and continues to this day.

I did have a thought as I was reading your comment and thinking about the evolution of jazz, at least in America. It is perhaps not a very profound thought and it has come and gone but...often, or always, perhaps, the evolution of a trend or an aspect of social civilization, takes place by those who do not record the events that eventually became something more.

We search through a few diaries and newspaper accounts of those years; writers, after the fact speculate on causation and motives behind events.

As I mentioned, the thesis was for a college paper and I found sufficient evidence to support the relationship between human freedom and human creative endeavors. I still think it makes a good deal of sense, not just in Jazz and in slavery, but in a wide range of human endeavors.

And...as is sometimes the case...the reverse of the postulation functions also. In other words, that yearning for freedom may well inspire creative thought and action. It also may be used as a focal point, such as African Chants and bible songs that played a fundamental role in the development of the music of that era.

Never easy, always complex and confusing, but still on attempts to achieve an understanding. That is and always has been my goal...to understand the truth of a matter.

amicus...