Women's voices: I see my light come shining

Today I’m sharing another Voice on that whole love-at-a-certain-age thing. I can’t stress this enough: men just don’t even want to think about this kind of thing, much less talk about it.

Patty Loveless is another of the artists my sister’s mix tapes introduced me to while I was in the UK. I came across “Ships” on my own, and I was struck immediately by its charm. You know I hate Vegas—it’s my idea of Hell gone bad. The last time I was there, to go to CES in 2009, the best thing I could say about it was that I was so glad to get out of the place, even Seattle looked good by comparison.

But I’m not sure “Ships” would work in any other setting. The concept of two people who are worn down and worn out going to that conflation of fakery and greed with the vague idea of striking lucky…and then doing just that is the very definition of romance. Anyone can fall in love with someone if you’re young, good looking and energetic (viz: every movie shown on Hallmark Channel). But to find love like Eddie and Lily—well, just the thought of that brightens my day.

A song—and Voice—of an entirely different nature. Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders were big when I was in college, and I’ve always had a soft spot for her—living the dream of leaving Akron, Ohio, for London…

And “I Shall Be Released”—well, like “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, one of the anthems of my youth.

Crank the volume up on this one, and sing it with Chrissie and me.

Apparently not mental health awareness month

Okay, here’s a story that comes out of the UK—one of those corporate head scratchers that every once in a while just leaves me completely gobsmacked.

It seems Asda, the supermarket chain that’s a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walmart, had listed this Halloween costume on its online catalog:

Do you notice what’s wrong with it? Because if you do, you’re presumably way ahead of everyone in Asda’s corporate merchandising and marketing departments. Not to mention whoever in legal and PR signed off on it.

I mean, really—was there no one in the chain of approvals who held up a hand, cleared their throat and said, “Um, hello…”?

Before the Twitterverse did, I mean.

Because pretty much most of the denizens of the platform dropped Asda in it in short order. On Wednesday the company was forced to apologize, remove the costume from its catalog and offer up a donation of £25,000 to the mental health charity Mind. (Asda competitor Tesco, which had a similar costume on offer, recalled its version and announced it would contribute some unspecified sum to Mind as well.)

I find it interesting that these companies are so out of it that it apparently didn’t occur to them that 1)Mental illness isn’t a particularly joking matter in general, much less after recent events in the Washington Navy Yard; or that 2) Social media is going to pick up on anything and ram it down your corporate throat.

Look,  I’m not the most politically correct human being on the face of the planet, and I acknowledge that this is Halloween we’re talking about, which is not the most tasteful holiday in the calendar. If Asda and Tesco had wanted to sell this particular costume, all they had to do was label it “ax murderer”, and they’d have been home free. You can’t really declare ax murderers a sensitive category; if it weren’t for them, Jamie Lee Curtis wouldn’t have had the career that allows her out there hawking Activia these days. (A horror of a different stripe.)

But—seriously, people? “Mental patient”? I’d ask, what were they thinking; but clearly they weren’t.

Women's voices: Beautiful like a rainbow

Since the Voices are how I characterize intuition—that gut feeling you get about a situation or a person, which you ignore or contravene at your own peril—let’s return to Cyndi Lauper, and one of her signature pieces.

Of course I’m talking about “True Colors”—the ability to see and appreciate people as they truly are, irrespective of how they try to dress themselves up or down.

The song is a natural as anthem for the LGBT movement, and Lauper has made use of it to support the equality cause. I’ve always seen it as a friendly kind of song—as in all about friendship.

My association with my second offering today is kind of the antithesis of friendship and the kind of relationship that supports. Not because “Caro mio ben” is an 18^th Century punk song but because…well.

Back in the vast primordial beginning of this century, O Best Belovèd, I got to know someone who, ah, comment dit-on? Who only ever listens to another person as a staging ground for producing what he thinks are either bons mots or Timeless Truths. For some reason, “Caro mio ben” came up as a topic, and I mentioned that I’ve sung it. (Come on—everyone’s sung it.) He proclaimed that it’s a great song by…Mozart. I replied to the effect that—according to my Schirmer’s sheet music—it’s by Giordani.

Without hesitation he responded, “…with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.”

Well, there you go.

(The really interesting thing about him and others like him is that they believe everything that comes out of their mouths. So fully that I’m willing to bet that they’d all pass polygraph tests, regardless of the porkies they produce.)

I don’t hold it against the song though.

As an aside—I would have given you another piece, actually by Mozart, from Bartoli, which is on my personal Bucket List. (It’s kind of interesting that the worse my voice gets, the more ambitious my aspirations become.) But “Exsultate Jubilate” runs to 14-15 minutes. A little long to keep you here. But I just love that sucker; as with “O mio babbino caro”, I’ve got multiple recordings of it. I first heard Frederica von Stade sing it way back in the 80s, but had a devil of a time finding a recording of her. (Which appears to be the case on YouTube, too.) Sumi Jo’s is quite interesting, and of course Kathleen Battle’s can’t be matched for purity of tone. But I always keep coming back to Bartoli; her voice has a quality of warmth that keeps me enthralled.

Women's voices: Too tired anyway

Another day of working girls. It’s always something, isn’t it?

And you know that there couldn’t be a tribute to women’s work without Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money.” Crank up the volume on this one and clear a space around you, because you’re going to want to get up and move.

Not sure I even need to comment on the nature of the song, but I will reiterate my sense of loss that she’s no longer making music in that vibrant style with that stunning voice.

Naturally, “She Works Hard for the Money” is on my gym playlist. Another one that cranks up the cardio workout is Martina McBride’s cover of Emmylou Harris’s “Two More Bottles of Wine”. Keep the volume up on this one, too.

I love this song—all about dreams, ambitions, love—and ending up sweeping out a warehouse in West L.A. Listen—if you knew that area at all, well…it’s the very definition of Things Gone Wrong.

But I like the hopefulness of the two more bottles of wine.

I just hope they’re screw-tops.

Women's voices: She's flesh and blood

They do say that women’s work is never done, so time for the Voices to tackle…working girls. All kinds of working girls.

One of my all-time hero-worshipping divas is Marlene Dietrich. The woman had élan, depth, brains, mystery, humor and courage in vast amounts. And her moral compass was truer than almost anyone else’s I can think of.

If I didn’t know anything else at all about her, the fact that she basically flipped off Nazis from Hitler and Goebbels on down would punch her ticket as far as I’m concerned. After she left Germany in the early 1930s, she was the go-to girl for every other artist fleeing the regime, providing unstinting money, guidance and moral support. She also was a stalwart in the US war effort, participating in bond drives and being a regular fixture at the Hollywood Canteen. She didn’t care if she made sandwiches, washed dishes or danced with the servicemen—she did whatever was needed. Cheerfully and with panache.

She also went to the front lines in Western Europe to entertain the troops, even though she knew that if she should fall into German hands, what remained of her life would be short and miserable. She reasoned that it was worth the risk if her presence would reassure our soldiers. And, BTW, she glammed it up to the max. Although, in all fairness, Dietrich could wear a couple of old flour sacks and a pair of combat boots, and still look like every penny of the million bucks her legs were insured for. Honestly—from the cheekbones down she had magical bone structure.

(She also made time for an affair with, amongst others, James M. Gavin, eventually commander of the 82^nd Airborne Division. The two of them together could have generated enough heat to melt the snow in the Hürtgen Forest.)

Dietrich continued to perform until an injury ended her career in her 70s. She was known for her sultry delivery, and was an easy target for parody. (Do I even have to mention Madeline Kahn as Lili von Stupp in Blazing Saddles?) Maybe her most famous signature piece was “See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have from Destry Rides Again”. Or possibly “Falling in Love Again”.

But today is about working girls, remember? And “Lili Marlene” was one of the defining songs of World War II. Soldiers on both sides of the conflict couldn’t get enough of it. Goebbels hated it and tried to ban it on German broadcasts; but the requests from the front were too numerous. (Naturally, Axis radio didn’t air Dietrich’s version. It was called “Das Mädchen unter der Laterne”, “The Girl Under the Lantern”, and the singer, Lale Andersen was forever tied to it.)

I suppose it’s open to interpretation whether the eponymous Lili is a working girl—although I’ve been around enough military installations to know that the women hanging out at the gates are probably there in a professional capacity. And being a pro doesn’t preclude the notion of true love. Does it?

In the 1993 film A Foreign Field, a couple of D-Day veterans, American and British, are reminiscing in Calvados, along with the Frenchwoman they both remember as their true love. Which she was, for about 35 minutes. But the Brit, played by Leo McKern, comments on the power of “Lili Marlene” to the effect that, “That bitch would get you every time.” From what I’ve read, that pretty much sums it up.

And as far as I’m concerned, Dietrich singing it is pretty much the perfect storm.

Our second piece today is Aretha Franklin’s “Do Right Woman/Do Right Man”. Not, strictly speaking, about working women. But good advice nonetheless.

Guys—are you listening?

Women's voices: Rise, shine

The Higher Power is a big topic, so we’ll spend another day in it.

If you’ve never heard Sweet Honey in the Rock, I’m just so sad for you. These women make music that resonates deep into my core; their beautiful and powerful voices blend in such a stunning way that whenever I hear them, I have to stop whatever I’m doing and listen.

This version of them doing “Jacob’s Ladder” is from the soundtrack to Ken Burns’ documentary The Civil War. Bernice Johnson Reagon’s voice is the anchor; but the others weave in and out like a baroque fugue.

I don’t know whether they teach “Jacob’s Ladder” in elementary school music segments anymore; too Judeo-Christian, probably, for the PC crowd. (Actually, I was once rebuked by someone on the Pundit’s Apprentice’s list for using the term “Judeo-Christian” because it’s too…something; I forget what. I also forget what was the alleged preferred replacement because I was too busy waiting to see if this guy was going to disappear up his own arse. I concluded he must have an even more pathetic life than I do if he feels the need to throw that kind of crap around to someone he doesn’t know. In public.) But if they don’t, it’s a pity, because it’s a great song for rhythm—which, of course is partly the point for songs that are used in the course of physical labor.

Reagon, Sweet Honey’s founder, left the group a few years ago; it took two women to replace her.

I took a class from Reagon at American University in D.C. back in the 90s. As we gathered in the lecture hall for the first meeting, she walked up to the lectern and began singing “Wade in the Water”. Every note was solid and heartfelt. It was a privilege to learn from her.

But I can’t find a recording of Sweet Honey doing that one, so I’ll give you one of my favorites: Eva Cassidy.

I am in total awe of Cassidy’s range, and I love the way she just owns this one.

Gratitude Monday: Framed by a circular rainbow

Recently my BFF sent me a couple of mementos from her mother, who was my Mama II. They opened up a whole new aspect of her—and of women—for me. So today I’m grateful for women who soar.

All this time I’d had no idea that Mama II loved to fly. The cutthroat-pinochle-playing, joke-telling, altar guild stalwart learned to fly at a time when it was something women just didn’t do. She flew bi-planes. I don’t know how many hours she logged, my friend is still digging around for her logbooks; but it was one of the defining activities of her life before she married.

Flying small aircraft isn’t something that appeals to me, but purely for physiological reasons: I get sick. I’d lose all concentration on that roll, pitch and yaw stuff because I’d be puking; then I’d crash and my life of romance and adventure would be over. If I didn’t have that problem, I might have liked to explore the sky. In a small way.

Around the time I received the bracelet and pin, I was reading a rather sloppily presented history of American women in WWII. There is a section on women who served in the various military branches, including as pilots. The writer isn’t terrifically good, but she did get some splendid material from her subjects.

Cornelia Fort joined the Women’s Auxiliary Ferry Squadron at its inception, in 1942. She’d been flying for some time before that. Here’s how she described what flying meant to her, and what I think might have gone through Mama II's mind:

“None of us can put into words why we fly. It is something different for each of us. I can’t say exactly why I fly, but I ‘know’ why as I’ve never known anything in my life.

“I knew it when I saw my plane silhouetted against the clouds framed by a circular rainbow… I know it in the dignity and self-sufficiency and in the pride of skill. I know it in the satisfaction of usefulness.”

Fort was killed in 1943 when one of her colleagues in a flight formation got too close to her, his landing gear slicing through her left wing. She left a letter to her mother that included these words:

“I was happiest in the sky—at dawn when the quietness of the air was like a caress, when the noon sun beat down and at dusk when the sky was drenched with fading light.”

You must get a different view of things from the cockpit of a small plane, especially when you’re in it by yourself. (Many aircraft in those times didn’t have radios; when you went up, you were absolutely alone.) Women who, like Mama II swept up into sun-split clouds, who learned the mechanics as part of the price of flight and braved the derision and discouragement they must have encountered—did it for the pure joy of it.

We should know more about them, and let some of that for-the-joy-of-it into our daily lives. And we should be grateful for their examples.

So today—thank you heaps to Mama II and all those women who didn’t just live their dreams, they flew them.

Women's voices: Guide my feet, hold my hand

Yesterday’s collaboration took us into the realm of something larger than ourselves, or beyond ourselves. The jury’s still out for me on this issue of the Higher Power, but let me just say that I do hope to God that humans are not the highest form of intelligence around, because that would be a miserable, utterly unfunny joke and we’d be completely doomed. Um.

Carrying it farther along, then, let’s listen to Faith Hill’s “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”. This is pure gospel, a genre I love. I swear—no matter how crabby, pissed off or depressed you feel, put on a gospel song and you can’t help feeling better. Possibly because you can’t possibly resist the urge to get up and move to the music. Once you start moving, you’re on the road to recovery.

There are lots of recordings of “Precious Lord”, including one by Nina Simone. But I really get into this one by Hill. It has all the hallmarks of a revival meeting. Everyone needs a bit of revival every once in a while.

(Sorry about the DiCaprio part; but this is the only vid I could find.)

Another song with a gospel feel is Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready”. And my favorite cover of that is by Eva Cassidy.

This is another one that gets you moving. You are, aren’t you? Because if you’re not, I’m going to worry…

Women's voices: Live in the sunshine

Yesterday I mentioned Linda Ronstadt’s collaboration with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Trio went with me twice across the US. A friend thought that the album might be monochromatic, so she lent me Ronstadt’s What’s New.

That was the one I thought banged on a little long on a single style. I really like the blending of the different voices and styles of the three women, even if I sometimes find Parton a little over-ornamented.

My favorite cut from Trio is “Farther Along”. I love that old-time Baptist Sunday School piano in it.

I have to say that I’ve found myself humming it a lot as I wended my way through CorporateLand. I very seldom ever did, in fact, understand what was going on. But maybe I hadn’t got farther along enough.