I feel a bit foggy today – Last night (or way early this morning) I was woken up by a shattering thunderstorm that felt like it was coming right through my windows. Lighting and thunder happening simultaneously – enormous crashes – enormous flashes – I cringed in my bed, loving every single second of it. But I woke up, for some reason, in this vague fog.
I have a lot of personal work to do. I am percolating, I guess you could say. Sometimes before I actually get down to some serious work, I have a period of rather vague behavior. I wander about my apartment. I cook an enormous amount of food and box everything up neatly in Tupperware. I did that last night at around 11, 11:30. I was cooking like a mad-woman at 11:30. I re-arrange the medicine cabinet. I watch my Eddie Izzard tape for the 20th time. All very vague with no discernible pattern.
I’ve come to recognize it now.
It’s actually NOT vague, all evidence to the contrary.
What is it, then?
It’s me getting ready to get down to work. It’s like a cat circling and circling and circling and circling in the same spot, before curling up and going to sleep.
So what’s on my mind right now? A mish-mash.
— My brother.
— My deadline. Internal and external. Clock ticking away.
— Going to Princeton tomorrow night. Making train arrangements. A friend of mine is playing Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” at the McCarter Theatre, and tomorrow is “press night”.
— Rasputin is on my mind. What is the DEAL with Rasputin?
— I need to get another book shelf. I am already overflowing.
— I need to buy a set of wine glasses.
— I’m hosting Girl Group on Friday night. (Girl Group: 8 women, all of us dear friends, get together once a month. Rotating apartments.) It will be my first hostess moment in the new digs. Must cook. Must prepare. Do not know when I will find the time.
— For the past 6 days, my radio alarm clock has woken me up with Sheryl Crow’s new song “The First Cut is the Deepest”. Literally – every single morning. It’s been like Groundhog Day.
— The song touches me so much (and also there’s the weirdness of being bombarded with it every day – and I had never heard it before either) – that I went out and bought the CD. Cat Stevens wrote the song. (Isn’t his name something like Krishnamurti now?) My jaw dropped. No wonder it touches me. Great song.
— I need to get more plants. I want my apartment to overflow with green.
— I have booby-trapped my entire apartment with positive energy. Everywhere I look is something beloved and something personal. It gives my apartment a little bit of a “wow, a really crazy person lives here” vibe, but that’s okay with me.
— I need to read Franny and Zooey again. It’s time. But something in me resists. It’s a radical book.
— I glance at the newspapers fearfully as I walk to work. I don’t want to talk about that.
— I want to do another Commonplace Book day on my blog. You people are all just the best, for reading all that stuff, and commenting.
— I really MUST get down to some real work.
Yeah, “The First Cut is the Deepest” is a great song. Cat (I can’t remember what his new name now is, either!) wrong some good stuff. His vocals on “First Cut…” were weak, though, not as good as some of his other work. Rod Stewart did a much better version, and of course we know have Sheryl.
“First Cut…” is one of those unusual songs that get better each time it’s re-released. Typically I prefer the original version of a song, or at least the first version that I heard. I’ve been told that’s because that is the version that your ear gets used to, gets tuned to. Maybe. It’s true in most cases, although there are some songs that have such strong remakes that I accept those. “Angel of the Morning” comes to mind. I prefer Juice Newton’s, even though I heard versions by Merilee Rush and ONJ before that. Some singers just have the right sound for the right song.
Interesting analogy about the cat circling before curling up to go to sleep. Of course, now I have the mental picture of you circling your desk several times before sitting down to work.
Jeez, look at the errors in the first paragraph of my comment! Suggestion to all of you — never set “Auto Correct” on your spell checker! I’d prefer the original misspelled words to the chaos of that paragraph!
What I wanted to say (insert into the above for your own reading): “Cat… wrote some good stuff” and “…of course now we have Sheryl.”
I had never heard the song at all before – so I thought she had written it.
Usually, the original is best – although there are a ton of exceptions. Actually, it’s not a matter of better or best, probably. It’s just a matter of interpretation.
Like: I absolutely LOVE Michael Jackson’s version of “Come Together”. It does not diminish at all how much I love the original. Michael Jackson made me hear that song in a new way.
It’s probably unpopular to admit that right now, but I don’t care.
No, there’s nothing wrong with admitting that you like a particular person’s music. Music transcends the artist (and the writer, and the producer, and the agent, as much as Colonel Parker couldn’t accept that!). Michael Jackson the person is a bit of a mystery, and possibly a pedophile, but that takes nothing away from his talent. For instance, I still find his “Man in the Mirror” entrancing (and I find a bit more meaning in it now than I did at the time…).
“Come Together” is a wonderful song (although I will admit that I find Aerosmith’s version a bit scary). As I recall (and I will have to pull out my copy of the BEATLES COLLECTION, VOL 2 to verify) it was one of the few songs by the Fab Four NOT WRITTEN by any of them. Great song, though.
“First Cut…” is a fabulous piece of music that touches everyone – nearly all of us have experienced the pain of love gone wrong, and how that stays with us for years; even for the rest of our lives. Doesn’t matter if you think Cat Stevens deserted his fans, whether you think Rod Stewart is crazy, or whether you think Sheryl Crow is distant. The song is great, no matter who performs it and no matter what you think of the performer.
Aceman:
Another great and very unexpected cover is Travis covering Britney Spears’ “Hit me baby one more time”. Have you heard it?
I love Travis … and they kind of play it serious and straight … and it is outrageously funny. Especially with guys singing it. But they play it straight.
No, I haven’t heard it. In fact, I haven’t heard either version. I admit to being unusual in that I do not like Britney Spears. I don’t like her music, I don’t like her weird media pranks, and I don’t like how so much time is devoted to her in entertainment news media. She’s a marginally talented former Mouseketeer to has learned that bizarre behavior gets attention in the news; in other words, someone who is trying to spread their fifteen minutes of fame into a meaningful career.
Oh, I know, but that’s the whole funny thing about this cover. Travis, a reputable band, who writes their own great songs, takes this bubblegum-pop song and turns it into kind of this dark ironic lament.
It’s very funny and it makes you realize: wow, that’s actually kind of a good pop song.
I just said: “it makes you realize: wow, that’s actually kind of a good pop song.”
I admit that with some shame.
Cat Stevens is Yusuf Islam now, isn’t he? I liked the stuff the wrote for the Harold and Maude soundtrack. Didn’t like him approving of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, but we must often separate the art from the artist.
Oh God, Harold and Maude! What a movie! Forgot that that was all his music.
So did I, and I used to pride myself on being the “Pop Music Trivia Guru.” Rats, time to turn in my “King of the Hill” crown and that script that deciphers “American Pie” lyrics…
Red, there’s nothing wrong with admitting that something is a “good pop song”. The music industry has destroyed the “Pop” label, but there was a time when “Pop” simply meant what was popular. Believe it or not (which was a pop music title), something can be popular and still be good, too.
hey Aceman..have u heard Nina Simone’s version of Angel of the Morning?? I love that song as well..and Nina’s is great!!
“Did I leave the gas on?…No! I’m a fuggin’ Squirrel!”
I may have heard Nina’s version. I heard a new version of the song not long ago (maybe 6-8 weeks ago), but didn’t catch the artist’s name. It was good, but I still prefer Juice’s.