Category: Music

International Women’s Day: Helen Reddy

On March 8, governments around the world celebrate the anniversary of International Women’s Day. The idea for the day began when more than a million women and men marched in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland on March 19, 1911 to protest discrimination against women.

“I Am Woman”

Helen Reddy

In the early 1970s, Helen Reddy was trying to find songs to record “that reflected the positive sense of self that I felt I’d gained from the women’s movement.” But she could not find such songs.

She later explained her quest to Billboard magazine. She noted, “I realized that the song I was looking for didn’t exist, and I was going to have to write it myself.” She did.

“I Am Woman” was released in the spring of 1972.  But did not go anywhere on the charts that summer. Then in the fall, the song reappeared on the charts and started climbing, becoming the anthem we know today.

In the 1975 clip below, Reddy explains how the United Nations declared it the “Year of the Woman.” And then the UN chose her song “I Am Woman” as its theme.

Helen Reddy in Recent Years

We are fortunate to have the recorded versions of the song.  But unfortunately for a long time we did not have live performances of “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy to celebrate International Women’s Day. Reddy suffers from Addison’s Disease and had stopped performing.

According to Helen Reddy’s website, after retiring from performing in 2002, she practiced “as a clinical hypnotherapist and motivational speaker.”  Update: In 2013, Helen Reddy returned to touring for her first performances in ten years, but subsequently again retired from performing.

In late 2015, her family reported that she was doing fine but had moved into the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills. Then, in January 2017, Reddy appeared in Los Angeles at the Women’s March and sang an a cappella version of . . . “I Am Woman.”

We are thankful she gave this great popular song to the world. (Also, you may hear the demo version of “I Am Woman” on her website.)

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    Book Stores Close: A Cash Brothers Song for Workers

    Borders Book Stores Closing

    Cash Brothers – Night Shift Guru

    {Night Shift Guru – The Cash Brothers}

    The Closings. In a previous post, Chimesfreedom wrote about the closing of a CD store and the losses from changes in technology. That post concluded by reminding us that at least we still have bookstores. But Borders just recently declared bankruptcy and announced it is closing most of its stores.

    While I enjoy smaller independent bookstores, there were two Borders stores that I sometimes visited because of their location and selection. Both of them are among those closing. Although you may get anything you want through the Internet, there is something about seeing the physical objects in a store. I have found a number of my favorite books while browsing a book store, and I never would have found the books online. For some people, Borders was the only book store in their area. So, yes, I am sad about the closings. And I felt like a vulture picking through the going-out-of-business sale.

    The Workers. But there are other casualties. As I stood in the long winding line, annoyed that I had to wait for so long to get my 20%-off books, I noticed the two cashiers struggling to handle the extra load. The customers were annoyed that the long line was so slow, the store was a mess from everything being out of place, people where complaining that the store would not take coupons, etc. It must be horrible to work under those depressing conditions as you face unemployment. One of the cashiers who had been working since early in the morning was trying to arrange with a supervisor to be able to take a lunch break before 4:00 p.m.

    Someone who works at a Borders told me that the employees are not getting any severance pay or anything — just declining working conditions until the final day when they become unemployed. It may be hard to blame the company because they are in bankruptcy. There have been some articles arguing that Borders executives mismanaged the business and that had they been more creative they would be doing better, as is Barnes & Noble. I do not know if that is true, but I am sure that they did not want to go out of business when they were making the decisions. Still, it really sucks for the workers, while usually the executives end up okay.

    We have seen too many of these types of layoffs in the last few years during the recession, even though people lose jobs in good times too. So, if you happen to be shopping in a store that is going out of business, take a minute to acknowledge the workers and say a kind word as you grab up your bargains.

    The Song. There are various songs about the working life, and one of my favorites is “Night Shift Guru” by The Cash Brothers. The above song, while not about working in a book store, is about working in the service industry waiting on people.
    Cash Brothers How Was Tomorrow
    Oh I know my job’s just working in a store
    I’ve got an L on my forehead and a stupid uniform
    It’s 7/11, it’s twenty-four seven
    I’m the night shift guru, made to serve you
    How do you do

    The Cash Brothers are two brothers from Canada, Andrew and Peter Cash. They had separate careers, including Peter’s work with the Skydiggers. But after they sang a song together, they decided to form their own band in 1996. Once you hear their voices together you will understand why. Several years ago, I heard The Cash Brothers perform at a free outdoor performance at Lincoln Center in New York City. It was a small affair, and I was able to talk to them about their guitar pedals, etc. I also bought another copy of a CD I already owned and a t-shirt that was too small for me because I wanted to support their music.

    “Night Shift Guru” is off of their album How Was Tomorrow (2001), which is one of my favorite CDs. If you like their sound on “Night Shift Guru,” check out the entire album as all of the songs are outstanding. For Chimesfreedom readers who are Springsteen fans, you might be interested in the song “Nebraska” off How Was Tomorrow, which is about driving around listening to the Springsteen Nebraska album. Their other albums are good too, although I suggest starting with How Was Tomorrow. You may hear Nebraska and some of their other music on free mp3’s on the website. [Sept. 2011 Update: The Cash Brothers website is no longer available.]

    Unfortunately, like Borders, the Cash Brothers appear to be out of business, or at least they are on hiatus. The last music I have from them is from a 2006 collaboration with the Skydiggers. The Cash Brothers website is up but does not have any recent news. Andrew Cash has his own up-to-date website and is recording his own music, working as a journalist, and recording television soundtracks. Peter Cash also has his own website, with plans to add music and more information soon. So even if it is unfortunate they no longer perform together, at least they are still working — unlike the Border employees who are losing their jobs.

    I found How Was Tomorrow while browsing through a record store. That store is now closed.

    Update (May 2011): Andrew Cash was recently elected to Canada’s House of Commons.

    What do you think about Borders closing? Leave a comment.

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    Every Number 1 Song

    In the pre-Internet days of the 1980s, when people used cassette recorders for music, I would often record songs off the radio. There was a talent to doing it. Often, songs started without any introduction, so you had to be ready with a cassette in your stereo and hit the record button as soon as you heard the first notes of the song you wanted.

    Cassette Tape

    In 1982, a radio station was playing a series about the history of rock and roll, and I recorded part of it on a cassette tape. At the end of the series, they played a mix that featured every number one pop song since the start of the rock and roll era. After I recorded the mix, I listened to the tape a number of times, like the track was a song by itself. The mix was fun, and it seemed to incorporate a large piece of the history of popular music.

    Up through this week, I had not heard that clip for close to thirty years, but through the miracle of the Internet, I heard it again recently when Salon featured the same mix of every number one song through 1982, along with a second mix of number one songs since then, apparently through 1993. Although I had not heard the pre-1982 mix for decades, the sequence of the clips is still familiar to me. The mix is a great overview of popular music, and the sounds weave together so the segment sounds like a symphony of music history.

    Salon did not explain who put these clips together, and I still do no know. But hit the play button and listen while you do some work or surf the Internet. You recognize these songs and you love them. You know you do. And how perfect is it that this collection, which will bring back so many memories for you, begins with a song called “Memories are Made of This,” the first number one song of 1956? If you wish to follow along with the song names and artists, you may start with Wikipedia’s list of Best Sellers in Stores from 1956 and then follow through subsequent years. [2024 Update:  Unfortunately, the audio is no longer available for putting in this article.]

    Whoever put these together did a great job. The clips weave together better than when I used my old cassette tape recorder to record complete songs off of the radio.

    What do you think? Do the clips reveal something great about popular music or do they represent the decline of Western Civilization? Leave a comment.

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    Suze Rotolo: One of the Twentieth Century’s Great Muses

    Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – Don’t Think Twice

    {Don’t Think Twice – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott}

    Presley, Elvis – Tomorrow Is A Long Time

    {Tomorrow Is A Long Time – Elvis Presley }

    The above two songs have two things in common. First, they are two covers of Bob Dylan songs admired by Dylan. Second, they both were inspired by Suze Rotolo, Dylan’s former girlfriend who died several days ago at the age of 67 from lung cancer. Rotolo began a three-year relationship with the young Dylan in summer 1961 when she was 17, and she participated in a 1963 photo shoot with Dylan and ended up on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album. A few years ago, Rotolo wrote a memoir about the 1960s and her time with Dylan called, A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties

    Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Suze Rotello

    Although you never may have heard her voice, Rololo appears on one of the most famous album covers of all time and inspired some classic songs. In 1962, Dylan was not happy that she was in Italy for several months, inspiring him to write the songs “Tomorrow Is a Long Time,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “Boots of Spanish Leather.” By late 1963, Rotolo and Dylan were done, as she felt increasingly isolated from Dylan and his world of growing fame. In 1967, she married and later had a son.

    Rotolo inspired other Dylan songs too. While she worked in the Civil Rights Movement, she told Dylan about Emmett Till’s 1955 murder, leading him to write “The Death of Emmett Till.” After a fight with Rotolo and her sister, Dylan wrote the angry “Ballad in Plain D,” leading him to apologize for the lyrics years later: “My mind it was mangled, I ran into the night. / Leaving all of love’s ashes behind me.” She inspired other songs to varying degrees, as songwriters incorporate various feelings and experiences.

    The first song posted above is “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” one of the songs Dylan wrote while Rotolo was in Italy in 1962. Dylan did not want her to go on the eight-month trip, and as you can tell from his song, he was angry about it. When Rotolo returned to Greenwich Village, several of Dylan’s folk-singer friends were mad at Rotolo, who they felt should not have abandoned Dylan for the trip. When she was around, they would make a point of singing Dylan’s angry songs about her, including “Don’t Think Twice.” The song lists each offense of a former lover, and then dismisses the offense and the lover with the great passive-aggressive line, “Don’t think twice, it’s all right.”

    I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind,
    You could have done better but I don’t mind.
    You just kinda wasted my precious time,
    But don’t think twice, it’s all right.

    In Dylan’s version, and I’m sure in the versions Rotolo heard from Dylan’s friends upon her 1963 return to Greenwich village, the song is an angry song, like so many of Dylan’s great songs. You can feel the sting she must have felt at hearing the song going around. But Ramblin’ Jack Elliott finds the heartache underlying the song. Dylan recorded the song in his early 20’s, an age when we are full of passion and anger at the world and those who offended us. Ramblin’ Jack, though, sings the song as an old man, looking back with loss, regret, and wisdom. One time Dylan was so moved by Ramblin’ Jack’s performance of the song, he reportedly told the singer something to the effect of “Take the song, it is yours.” The recording above is off of the soundtrack to The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack, an excellent documentary.

    The other song above is “Tomorrow Is A Long Time,” which Dylan also wrote while Rotolo was in Italy. Unlike “Don’t Think Twice,” it is not angry and tells of missing a lover: “But no one and nothing else can touch the beauty / That I remember in my true love’s eyes.” This version of “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” is sung by Elvis Presley from his From Nashville To Memphis- Essential 60’s Masters box set.

    Dylan once said that that Presley’s version of “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” was his favorite cover of all of his songs. Because Dylan is not one who regularly heaps praise on artists who cover his songs, it is interesting that he admired cover versions of these songs inspired by Rotolo’s 1962 absence. Perhaps he liked that the other artists brought something new to the songs besides the anger and the pain he felt, or perhaps he believed their distance allowed them to capture the emotions better. Either way, they are great songs in both Dylan’s versions and these covers. Although the singer in “Don’t Think Twice” tells the lover that she wasted his precious time, through the lens of time, it is clear that Rotolo did not waste anybody’s time.

    What do you think about Rotolo’s influence and these songs? Leave a comment.

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    Discovery’s Final Launch: The Space Race is Over

    Space Shuttle Discovery

    Bragg, Billy – The Space Race Is Over The Space Race is Over – Billy Bragg (press to play)

    Today at 4:50 p.m. EST (2150 GMT), the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to make its final launch. During the 11-day mission, Discovery will bring supplies to the International Space Station, including Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot (I missed Robonaut 1 apparently). Since Discovery’s first flight in 1984, the shuttle has traveled 143 million miles and carried 246 humans into space.

    I remember watching the first Discovery flight. It was an exciting time for the space program. I was lucky to grow up with exciting changes in the space program, including seeing Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. The new space shuttles promised an even more exciting era. Many years before the shuttle’s first launch into space, I had a plastic space shuttle model that I glued together, and I would have guessed that by the time I was as old as I am now, we would have regular trips to the moon and robot servants.

    But it did not happen that fast. Science takes time, and some of the greatest advances are not necessarily the most exciting initially. I understand the debates about how money should be spent, but we cannot ignore science if we want a good future for us earthlings. And the International Space Station is pretty cool, and at least they will have a robot servant.

    Billy Bragg is an English singer-songwriter who has songs ranging from punk to folk. He is also active in left political causes, and in the 1990s Woody Guthrie’s daughter chose him to write music for some of Guthrie’s lyrics that were without music. The result was the excellent 1998 Mermaid Avenue album that he recorded with Wilco (along with Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II two years later). But Bragg probably is more known for writing excellent lyrics.

    One of Bragg’s songs from his Must I Paint You A Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg, “The Space Race is Over” captures the nostalgia for the space adventures and perfectly captures how one might feel about the Discovery’s final mission. He remembers back to being a kid and telling his mom, “We’ll walk on the moon someday” because “Armstrong and Aldrin spoke to me/ From Houston and Cape Kennedy.”

    The song tells about his dream of someday traveling in space “On the high tide of technology. / But the dreams had all been taken / And the window seat’s taken too.”

    Now that the space race is over
    It’s been and it’s gone
    And I’ll never get to the moon.
    Now that the space race is over
    And I can’t help but feel
    That we’ve all grown up too soon.

    It is possible Bragg is being critical of the waste of resources, but I do not think that is the main point of the song. His son does ask, “”Why did they ever go,” and the song concludes, “Now that the space race is over/And I can’t help but feel/That we’re all just goin’ nowhere.” But the nostalgia is genuine. The song’s invocation of his mother and his son point toward him intending the mixed emotions in the song.

    “The Space Race is Over” appears on Billy Bragg’s album William Bloke, which Bragg released in 1996 after taking some time off from music to raise his son. In that context, the song’s reference to his son evokes some loss that future generations are not getting the excitement from science and the space program that we “older folks” did. Even if a computer did win on Jeopardy recently, it is not as exciting as getting humans to the moon. And “don’t offer me a place out in cyberspace / ’cause where in the hell’s that at?”

    Will I be watching the final launch of Discovery today? As an adult, I have other plans and will be traveling on the subway around the time of the launch, so I will miss it. Oh well. Godspeed Robonaut 2.

    Now that the space race is over
    And I can’t help but feel
    That we’ve all grown up too soon.

    Bonus Live Version Video: A live video of Billy Bragg performing “The Space Race is Over” is on YouTube.

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