From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V6 #67 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Friday, April 2 2004 Volume 06 : Number 067 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] "So Says The Whippoorwill" [ptpowerlists@juno.com] [RS] Re: "So Says The Whippoorwill" (Redux) [ptpowerlists@juno.com] Re: [RS] "So Says The Whippoorwill" [Rongrittz@aol.com] [RS] Review of Ricahrd at Joe's Pub [Bobdog25nj@aol.com] [RS] Famous Blue Raincoat ["Isabel Frey" ] [RS] Joe's Pub - late show ["John Fix 3rd" ] [RS] "Famous Blue Raincoat." [Rongrittz@aol.com] [RS] Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) [OzWoman321@aol.com] Re: [RS] Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) [Rongrittz@aol.com] Re: [RS] Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) [Vanessa C Wills ] Re: [RS] Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) [Rongrittz@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 13:33:39 GMT From: ptpowerlists@juno.com Subject: [RS] "So Says The Whippoorwill" I have noted before that the Richard's genius lies in the details... With "So Says The Whippoorwill", this is illustrated as Richard alternately goes from *believing* that "the change could happen any day" (verses one, three and five) to being unsure about it (verses two and four). This is done with the inclusion of one word -- "or" -- at the beginning of those verses. He is clearly easily swayed by the whippoorwill (Dave Carter's reincarnation), by his true love's eyes and by Dave Carter himself (the mountaineer), but has reservations about what he's been (being) told by the guards (his doubts?) of his imprisoned heart and by "Father Brown" (organized religion?). Pat ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 13:50:11 GMT From: ptpowerlists@juno.com Subject: [RS] Re: "So Says The Whippoorwill" (Redux) I failed to mention, too, Richard's allusion to "Are You Happy Now?" in the third verse: It's such a shame to waste the night Just sitting in the dark Pat ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 09:02:44 -0500 From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] "So Says The Whippoorwill" Richard has occasionally introduced the song as being about "getting out of ruts," and I've often seen the verses as being about the places one turns to in order to get out of them. Nature in the first verse, your heart in the second, love in the third, and religion in the fourth. I've sometimes seen the song as being the flipside of Dave Carter's "Mother I Climbed," which is about continually going back to various religions and supposed "truths," and still finding "nothing to believe." RG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 09:12:09 EST From: Bobdog25nj@aol.com Subject: [RS] Review of Ricahrd at Joe's Pub Hello all: I have to run to work, so I will be really short for once. Thanks to Ron for his very complete and extremely timely review of Richard's show at Joe's Pub. Did you type it in at 3am? Sounds like two great shows. Sorry I missed the 4 year old and Lucy running to the stage. And, yes, Hazel's House has a lovely melody and some nice guitar work by Richard. Especially sorry I missed Richard singing "Famous Blue Raincoat", probably my favorite Leonard Cohen song. Ron, did you mean you literally had never heard the song before? NEVER heard the Leonard Cohen version? NEVER heard the lovely and very popular cover by Jennifer Warnes? Hmmm. I can't understand how that is possible cause you obviously know a lot about folk music and you play the guitar and stuff and you probably listen to that same radio stations I do... still, stranger things ahve happened, I guess. I have always found it a mysterious song. A story revealed by a letter to a friend. A love triangle of some kind. If someone knows the whole "story-behind-the-song" of "Famous Blue Raincoat" I'd love to hear it. bye.. Bob Paterson ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 09:26:20 -0500 From: "Isabel Frey" Subject: [RS] Famous Blue Raincoat >- -- in retrospect -- I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard before. Actually, >I >didn't even know what it was until he came to the phrase "famous blue >raincoat." >So THAT'S "Famous Blue Raincoat." Was that Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat"? !!!!! Isabel _________________________________________________________________ Check out MSN PC Safety & Security to help ensure your PC is protected and safe. http://specials.msn.com/msn/security.asp ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 09:31:43 -0500 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: [RS] Joe's Pub - late show Thanks to Ron for posting the reviews of both shows. My brother and I were at the second show, and hearing Richard sing "Famous Blue Raincoat" was quite a treat. Richard had asked for requests, and a man in the back had called out for "Nora". Richard initially said he wasn't going to play "Nora" but instead would play the song that inspired it. The man who called out the request complained that he had also seen Richard in Poughkeepsie and "Nora" wasn't played, and Richard said "That was Peekskill". :-) Anyway, Richard played them both and it was fascinating to hear them back to back. BTW, I've never played a guitar, but it seemed to me that Richard is playing several of his older tunes in a slightly different acoustic arrangement. I can't really describe the difference, but several (Arrowhead, Reunion Hill, Fishing) sounded different than when I saw him at the Turning Point last year. Any guitar gurus notice this or am I hallucinating? Can't wait for the album. John ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 09:35:41 -0500 From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: [RS] "Famous Blue Raincoat." >> Ron, did you mean you literally had never heard the song before? NEVER heard the Leonard Cohen version? NEVER heard the lovely and very popular cover by Jennifer Warnes? << Literally had never heard the song . . . in ANY of what I've learned from Google are many versions: the original, Jennifer Warnes, Tori Amos . . . But I know that I'm hitting the CD store on the way home today. My repertoire needs another sad and moody song in a minor key. RG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 11:27:47 EST From: OzWoman321@aol.com Subject: [RS] Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) Hello, All - RG wrote: << Literally had never heard the song . . . in ANY of what I've learned from Google are many versions: the original, Jennifer Warnes, Tori Amos . . . But I know that I'm hitting the CD store on the way home today. My repertoire needs another sad and moody song in a minor key. >> I've been a Leonard Cohen fan for years - I used to type term papers in college for extra cash and once agreed to be paid in LC albums in lieu of paper currency... :-) Although all his efforts stand alone, I'd recommend Cohen Live - with tunes like Hallelujah, Joan of Arc, I'm Your Man, etc., it's Moody Songs in Minor Key Deluxe! Then I'd suggest picking up Tower of Song, with other artists covering his tunes - in my opinion, the definitive cover of Famous Blue Raincoat belongs to Tori Amos (breathy, haunting, sensual - whew!). Enjoy the discovery, Ron - can you work up a version in time for Falcon Ridge? :-) Susan http://www.heartsdesireconcerts.com http://www.horseofadifferentcolorbooking.com "...A beautiful racket in whispers and roars, the bitter and sweet, between the truces and the wars, the noise and the quiet, the courage and the fear, and all of the wisdom between a smile and a tear..." ~ Mary Chapin Carpenter ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 11:54:54 -0500 From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) OK, so I just listened to an .mp3 of Leonard Cohen's original version of the song, and I was relatively underwhelmed. I'm not sure what Richard did to the song last night to make it so hauntingly beautiful -- other than the fact that he's, y'know, Richard Shindell -- but if ever I had access to a time machine, I'd sure like to go back and hear him do it again. Maybe some of youse will be lucky enough to hear it over the next few days during his New England swing. RG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 12:10:59 -0500 (EST) From: Vanessa C Wills Subject: Re: [RS] Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) This New Year's Eve, I saw Anthony Michael Hall do a rendition of "Hallelujah" that just about knocked my socks off. A version of it appears on the soundtrack for the USA Network Original Series "The Dead Zone." - --V On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 Rongrittz@aol.com wrote: > OK, so I just listened to an .mp3 of Leonard Cohen's original version of the song, and I was relatively underwhelmed. I'm not sure what Richard did to the song last night to make it so hauntingly beautiful -- other than the fact that he's, y'know, Richard Shindell -- but if ever I had access to a time machine, I'd sure like to go back and hear him do it again. Maybe some of youse will be lucky enough to hear it over the next few days during his New England swing. > > RG ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 14:24:49 -0500 From: Rongrittz@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) >> This New Year's Eve, I saw Anthony Michael Hall do a rendition of "Hallelujah" that just about knocked my socks off. << Farmer Ted sings Leonard Cohen? Scary. Anyway, I'm so Cohen-unknowledgeable that my first introduction to "Hallelujah" was via Jeff Buckley's version, used in the Season #3 ending episode of "The West Wing." I wonder if Leonard Cohen is going to become like Richard Thompson to me . . . someone whose songs I only like (and become aware of) when they're sung by other people. BTW, last night, Richard said that his 9-year old daughter's favorite song is Richard Thompson's "The Wall of Death," since "it's about an amusement park." Guess she'd REALLY like Dire Straits' "Tunnel of Love." One of my absolute favorite songs. RG ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V6 #67 **********************************