"... the power of getting through this speck of time is in your hands. While maybe you can’t directly relate to Chapman’s urgent promises about breaking the cycle of poverty and disappointment, you can loosely use O’Rourke’s scientific process for getting through any situation rife with angst, murk and the blah of it all. Listen hard enough, and the nearly sitcom-length middle can even feel short when the same big, bending sounds are crammed into little pockets of time that flitter away before you know it."
From "Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’ is a beautiful ballad. This 33-minute cover version takes it to a whole new place" by Hau Chu (WaPo).
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32 comments:
Hau Chu!!
Gesundheit!
Good grief i thought i had pulled thatvearwig out
Ok, I'm sticking with the original.
I learned growing up: "If you can't say something nice, then keep quiet."
Meh. Low rent minimalism. If you want a wonderfully beautiful example of this technique seek out Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet by Gavin Bryars. There are various versions, including a 30 minute one with Tom Waits. It should drive you crazy, but it is mind bendingly beautiful instead.
Plus the woke will hate it.
Omg. A minimalist version of the same riff with noise overlay. The guy can’t even sing.
The original song is better - one of the few by Chapman that was decent.
The reviewer must adore rap - because the very limited vocal ability of the singer seems not to bother him.
I bet you like that awful version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by that Hawaiian guy.
A recent performance of the Bryars https://youtu.be/b-ZjLTpf6BM
"Fast Car" was playing on the radio station as I was driving home this afternoon from the gym (a 5 minute trip). I have always loved the song- very poignant. Hard to believe that song is 32 years old. It was hit the Summer just before I started grad school. Seems like yesterday, but was well over half my life ago. I saw her perform as part of Lilith Fair, I think it was Summer 1997-maybe 98- at the Meadows Theater in Hartford, CT.
Hard to believe that song is 32 years old.
SNL did a skit back then where they showed "Tracy" sitting in a dumpy apartment with her guitar. She gets up and starts walking around singing "I write a fast song. Look out my window see what's going on".
I guess you had to be there.
So I did a search on that skit I mentioned above and I had it wrong. I should have known SNL was neither funny nor brave enough to do a parody of Tracy Chapman.
It was from "In Living Color":
In Living Color The Making of a Tracy Chapman Song
It sounds like noodling around in the studio to fill out the B side.
A self-indulgent act, committed on a self-indulgent song.
Seems fitting, I guess.
I thought it was fascinating, the way it began with the very simple, familiar guitar riff and slowly involved into something like Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians."
Chu's perplexingly effusive prose might be off-putting, but it might give you the curiosity it takes to wait and watch it grow and unfold and ultimately return to the starting point.
I was amazed that the Washington Post had a long, admiring piece about something a white man did to a black woman's song.
But no one came to the comments to talk about this on the level that I was looking for. I sat outside in the dark and listened to the 33 minutes (in headphones). It was deep and mysterious. But, okay, noodling, self-indulgent, the guy's voice, Tracy, Tracy, Tracy....
Why do I blog? To see if anyone picks up these threads... to feel connection... to feel disconnected...
evolved into something....
You should never do a cover unless you can improve on the original. The Monkees "I'm A Believer" and Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" are two examples. Most covers fail this test.
A really gorgeous version of Chapman's song, thanks for posting it. Although O'Rourke's song is more than twice as long, it reminded me somewhat of hearing John Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things" for the first time.
I liked it.
It has a good beat and you can dance to it.
But you'll be exhausted at the end.
“ But no one came to the comments to talk about this on the level that I was looking for”
Did you listen to the Bryars? Who's not engaging now?
“ But no one came to the comments to talk about this on the level that I was looking for”
Did you listen to the Bryars? Your complaint seems to be commenters who are not engaging. Who's not engaging now?
Brian Eno: Discrete Music.
Furniture music, ambient music.
Liminal, or just barely not.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jl_z5JvrKlc
I began skipping through it after the first minute of repetition. My occasional tinnitus is more interesting, at first I thought it was a band playing outside downtown. Then there are the damaged nerves in my feet that feel like they're picking up radio waves.
That's a half-hour of my life I intend to use for other purposes.
Jeff said...
You should never do a cover unless you can improve on the original. The Monkees "I'm A Believer" and Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" are two examples. Most covers fail this test.
I stuck a cover of "Girl U Want" in the middle of "Grease" - how'd I do?
Brevity is the soul of wit. Good job, Crack.
Ann's dilemna reminds me of a few things I learned from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi when I was learning to be a TM teacher. He used to tell us (perhaps quoting someone else?) the teacher teaches from her/his level of consciousness and the student receives it on her/his level of consciousness. He also used to say, see the mud, do your job, stay out of the mud. If you are disappointed by the level of the comments that means you have expectations. Perhaps you can adjust your expectations?
As far as the motivation to put up with lame people who comment and appear to trash the site, my best advice would be to ignore them. Consider this an act of selfless service. No one really holds you responsible for what people say in the comments. Perhaps you can offer an internship to some student interested in social media studies to get practice being a website administrator. I think that might be valuable experience for someone.
It would be a shame to eliminate the comment section. I hope my comments are worthwhile. And if not, please let me know?
Fast Cars by the Buzzcocks is even better.
Structurally this is reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "Echoes."
This is the comments thread that sent me on the trajectory toward ending comments on this blog.
From O'Rourke's Wikipedia page:
"American musician and record producer.[He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene. Around 2000, he relocated to New York City before moving to Japan, where he currently resides. O’Rourke is best known for his numerous solo and collaborative projects, many of which are entirely instrumental, and for his tenure as a member of Sonic Youth from 1999 to 2005. He has released albums across varied genres, including singer-songwriter music, post-rock, ambient, noise music, and tape experiments."
He's scored various movies, including "Grizzly Man."
Here's an article in The Guardian, "Jim O’Rourke: indie’s unsung perpetual polymath/You might not have heard of him, but the leftfield guitarist has spent over 20 years influencing – and evading – the mainstream, working with Sonic Youth to Werner Herzog."
"You should never do a cover unless you can improve on the original. The Monkees "I'm A Believer" and Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" are two examples. Most covers fail this test."
As if you don't sample songs and use them to build something of your own where you know very well that you are not improving on the original.
And the Monkees' "I'm A Believer" IS the original version of the song.
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