Women's Voices: Two-step partner & a Cajun beat

Let’s listen to a couple of the artists from the “Dreamland” video yesterday, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Carole King. They’re both singer-songwriters, and I’ve chosen a signature piece from each of them.

I love “Down at the Twist and Shout”—maybe partly because it was about a club in D.C. that used to book Cajun bands. (Carpenter spent a chunk of her life in the area.) But mostly because I can’t listen to it without wanting to get up and move.

Can you?

This song is purely about having a good time, but in a more subtle way than, say, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. And Carpenter’s voice is so warm and inviting, you just have to join in on the figurative dance floor.

I’m not ashamed to admit that some of King’s songs got me through some crappy times in my life. King’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” first made the rounds via The Shirelles, but I like King’s version better. It’s slower and more mellow—a woman of a certain age who's indeed had her heart broken when the night met the morning sun. More than once.

Well, haven’t we all?

And that’s why you want places like the Twist and Shout and the example of women who just get up and go on.