Women's voices: The second hand unwinds

I have a love-hate relationship with time. When you’re young, you never think about it, do you—except maybe in terms of it moving too slowly for the speed of your activities. But then, when you’re young, you think you’re immortal, so why would time have any significance for you?

As you get older… Yeah; different story. You come to realize that the days are long but the years are short, and you start feeling that bastard eating away at your joints and forming wrinkles around your friends’ eyes. It’s not theoretical any more.

To kick things off, let’s hear Tracy Chapman sing “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, as part of the 30^th Anniversary Concert honoring Bob Dylan. First of all, I don’t think I could have got through the month without Dylan; his songs framed the infrastructure of my childhood and youth; this one has to be The Anthem of the Sixties.

You hear lots of overblown, over-produced versions of it, but Chapman just comes out with her guitar and that extraordinary voice, and she completely commands it.

Second up is Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”. I know people who dismiss Lauper as an 80s lightweight, but she has serious songwriting chops, and her career has been strong for going on four decades, thank-you-very-much. Earlier this year her score for the Broadway hit Kinky Boots won her a Tony. “Time After Time” is one of her early efforts.

This video is definitely a golden oldie, direct to you from the 80s.

I confess that I prefer Eva Cassidy’s cover of this, but since my next Voice-on-time is Cassidy, I’m giving Lauper her props. She deserves her interpretation of her own song.

And that closing piece is “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” by English singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. Really, Denny knew what she was talking about, even though she was only 19 when she wrote this.

Many singers have covered “Time”—you’ve probably heard Judy Collins’ version, or maybe even Nina Simone. But Cassidy has captured my heart on this one. For one thing, her voice has echoes of Denny. But her interpretation crystalizes that one line, “I do not fear the time.”

I don’t know that I can make that same statement. But I love how Cassidy makes it real.