Thursday, January 2, 2014

MF and BR - A Songstress and the Words Behind Her

Several tunes sung by this artist have been a before and after moment in my life. This one, from the film Thelma & Louise, hooked me instantly. I think it was the setting (the desert expanse which I would visit many times over the next few years) and the overall mood of the track and its placement in the film. Not knowing anything about the artist I tracked down the hits album below and it spoke to, about and for the anger and confusion festering in my soul. 

The live version of this track became, and still remains, an all-time favorite. It gave the perfect voice, the cloaked metaphors and the edge that portrayed that darkness that was such a close friend.

She sings other people's songs but has led such a life that she owns the songs she sings and gives them a meaning that, coming from anyone else, would be absent.

(1994)


Info

As I dove deeper into her back catalogue and her autobiography I eventually tracked down the individual whose name appears in the credits for many of the tracks, including the live track linked above.

There is a darkness underneath these tracks that transcends the obvious time in which the music was made and would be manifest so perfectly many years later through a female voice that lived what was only hinted at in the originals.

(1982)


1 comment:

  1. I completely agree. The MF cover of Times Square is brilliant. The album from which it's picked Blazing Away is imo MFs best ever. She's so intense. Here's a link to BA kortlink.dk/dgmv

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