Saturdays, we note music by women. And I thought I'd grab some questions in e-mails from the public account (common_ills@yahoo.com) about that.
First off, do I love everything that goes up? Yeah. It might not be my number one favorite track by an artist but I do love it or it wouldn't make it up here.
Second, do all the songs I love make it up here? No. Not even grasping that we've been doing this since the pandemic and including every song posted on a Saturday, we'd still have plenty of songs that I love that have not made it.
Barbra Streisand's doing "Left In The Dark Again" at the top of this entry.
She makes some of the most amazing choices in that song -- she hits notes, caresses them and gives a performance and then some.
Feel the 'but' coming?
It's a piece of a garbage song.
I would never choose to be an artist recording that song.
It's okay that you're cheating on me, just turn off the lights and hop back into bed?
I'm going to keep my mouth shut about the personal aspect of someone deciding to record a song that tells that story. But I will note that is a hideous message.
And that's the song that killed her pop career. People forget this, but Barbra did not want to go back to Broadway. She shot down rumors of a return and made rude comments about going backwards. But "Left In the Dark Again" destroyed her. And this is the woman who once thought "It's a right I defend" (from "Woman In Love") was too 'strident'? That song, "A Woman In Love," was a huge hit and no one took offense to that line. [I'm adding the video of "A Woman In Love" below after this originally posted.]
But everything about "Left In The Dark Again" was offensive. And that she'd be proudly glorifying someone being cheated on really did not fit her image -- which at the point was beyond 'strident' for her detractors. She was a strong woman who'd just emerged victorious over sexism -- YENTYL was a hit and it was her baby. She directed it, she produced it, she starred in it, she co-wrote the screenplay and sang all the songs (eleven) in the film. She'd fought since 1968 to make the film. She'd broken through against so many obstacles. And there she was now singing:
"Make No Mistake, He's Mine" (her duet with Kim Carnes) might have saved Barbra if it were the first single from the album (EMOTION). But no one wanted to hear the 'message' of "Left In The Dark Again." It's a shame because Barbra was at her most powerful vocally -- you can hear that on "We're Not Making Love Anymore" in 1989. Instead of doing some really great singing, she got lost on 'projects.' THE BROADWAY ALBUM was a strong one but by the time you get to HIGHER GROUND and others, it's just making you realize how Barbra sidelined herself with that lousy 'message.'
Again, she sings it beautifully but no one wanted to hear that. If Whitney had done something like that in "It's Not Right," audiences would have turned on her.
That song's mads it up here now and I never reach for a remote to skip the song should it come on while I'm listening to music but it's a really hideous song.
What do I try to avoid when choosing songs?
I can get on people's nerves with music because sometimes all I want to hear is one song. I don't mean one record or one recording. I love Neil Young's "Helpless," for example. And I could post kd lang performing it and the Cowboy Junkies performing it and Patti Smith performing it and . . .
Because I can really do that, listen to about seven different versions from seven different artists in a row.
But I know when friends are listening to music with me, it can get on their nerves.
One thing I've largely avoided that I'm now stopping?
If it wasn't a live performance or performance with a music video, a lot of times it didn't get up here on a Saturday and there are a lot of songs -- a lot -- that I love that do not have a visual. I've tried to see if that's going to be a problem by posting Nina Simone's "Rich Girl" and Diana Ross' "Who?" and "Have Fun Again," etc. It hasn't been a problem so we'll include more.
What's the point of it?
We started it in the pandemic. There was enough to stress over and enough to feel bad or worried. Music on Saturdays was something we could do to take our mind off the pandemic for a moment or two.
And it also let us focus on some great work by women. There's a lot of lip service about supporting women and their work. But even with PUMA -- which was supposed to be feminists upset that Hillary Clinton did not get the 2008 Democratic Party's presidential nomination -- their sites would post music and discussions about film and it would be films starring men and songs sung by men.
This is one way of making an attempt to expand the canon.
We note Diana every Saturday. Diana Ross is a pioneer, a true artist and a true original. So much of what followed in pop music is a result of what she did and what she does. And I don't believe -- I consider a good friend -- she's ever gotten anywhere near the credit she deserves.
We try to note trail blazers so that means we've got her, Nina Simone Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, etc.
Cher is a trail blazer and we note her and, in fact, always kick off with her on Saturday mornings. Why? She's a good one to kick off with, if you're waking up, a song from the sixties or seventies by Cher is something to put a smile on your face.
Carly Simon, Patti LaBelle, Dionne Warwick, Chaka Khan, Cass Elliot, Mary J. Blige, Heart, Stevie Nicks, Tracy Chapman, Janis Joplin, Sade, Valerie Simpson, Carole King -- there's a long list of women that we note regularly. I also try to work in some new songs whenever possible.
I wasn't planning on noting Dolly Parton or Patti LaBelle today but saw interviews they'd done this week when I was pulling stuff this morning and so we had those before each of them having a song. (We did the same with kd lang but I saw her interview earlier in the week and had planned on including it and a song on Saturday.)
Off the top of my head, here are 100 albums that I listen to the most each year -- off the top of my head, this is not a ranking, just a list:
1) Diana Ross' diana
2) Joni Mitchell's BLUE
3) Aretha Franklin's YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK
4) Diana Ross' THANK YOU
5) Lauryn Hill's THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL
6) Joni Mitchell's FOR THE ROSES
7) Rickie Lee Jones' PIRATES
8) Aretha Franklin's ARETHA (1980 -- with her cover of "What A Fool Believes")
9) Aretha Franklin's A ROSE IS STILL A ROSE
10 Aretha Franklin's SPARKLE
11) Aretha Franklin's WHO'S ZOOMIN' WHO
12) Cher's CLOSER TO THE TRUTH
13) Cher's 3614 JACKSON HIGHWAY
14) Cher's STARS
15) Diana Ross' SWEPT AWAY
16) Diana Ross' TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING
17) Diana Ross' EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING
18) Diana Ross' THE BOSS
19) Diana Ross' SURRENDER
20) Diana Ross' FORCE BEHIND THE POWer
21) Diana Ross' EATEN ALIVE
22) Diana Ross' EVERY DAY IS A NEW DAY
23) Diana Ross' STOLEN MOMENTS: THE LADY SINGS JAZZ . . . AND BLUES
24) Carly Simon's THE BEDROOM TAPES
25) Carly Simon's HAVE YOU SEEN ME LATELY?
26) Carly Simon's ANTICIPATION
27) Stevie Nicks' ROCK A LITTLE
28) Stevie Nicks' 24 KARAT GOLD
29) Stevie Nicks' WILD HEART
30) Sade's LOVERS ROCK
31) The Pretenders' LEARNING TO CRAWL
32) The Pretenders' PACKED
33) The Pretenders' HATE FOR SALE
34) The Pretenders' THE ISLE OF VIEW
35) Diana Ross & the Supremes' REFLECTIONS
36) Diana Ross & the Supremes' SING HOLLAND-DOZIER-HOLLAND
37) Diana Ross & the Supremes' THE SUPREMES A' GO-GO
38) Dionne Warwick's HEARTBREAKER
39) Tori Amos' UNDER THE PINK
40) Tori Amos' LITTLE EARTHQUAKES
41) Fiona Apple's WHEN THE PAWN . . .
42) Aimee Mann's THE FORGOTTEN ARM
43) Carole King's TAPESTRY
44) Tracy Chapman's TRACY CHAPMAN
45) Tracy Chapman's OUR BRIGHT FUTURE
46) Tracy Chapman's CROSSROADS
47) Dusty Springfield's DUSTY IN MEMPHIS
48) Amy Winehouse's BACK TO BLACk
49) Blondie's PARALLEL LLINES
50) kd lang's HYMNS OF THE 49TH PARALLEL
51) Ashford & Simpson's STREET OPERA
52) Ashford & Simpson's LOVE OR PHYSICAL
53) Mary J. Blige's SHARE MY WORLD
54) Mary J. Blige's MY LIFE
55) Mary J. Blige's THE LONDON SESSIONS
56) Mavis Staple's LIVE IN LONDON
57) Mavis Staples' WE GET BY
58) Mavis Staples' WE'LL NEVER TURN BACK
59) Janis Joplin's PEARL
60) Tina Turner's PRIVATE DANCER
61) Tina Turner's FOREIGN AFFAIR
62) Tina Turner's TINA LIVE IN EUROPE
63) Cris Williamson's THE CHANGER AND THE CHANGED
64) Cherelle's AFFAIR
65) Nina Simone's HERE COMES THE SUN
66) Nina Simone's AT TOWN HALL
67) Nina Simone's TO LOVE SOMEBODY
68) Sarah Vaughan's A TIME IN MY LIFE
69) Judy Collins' IN MY LIFE
70) Joni Mitchell's DOG EAT DOG
71) Joni Mitchell's SHINE
72) Sarah Vaughan's CRAZY AND MIXED UP
73) Heart's THE ROAD HOME
74) Dinah Washington's SINGS FATS WALLER
75) Dinah Washington's SEPTEMBER IN THE RAIN
76) Roberta Flack's OASIS
77) Roberta Flack's FIRST TAKE
78) Roberta Flack's KILLING ME SOFTLY
79) Roberta Flack's LET IT BE ROBERTA: ROBERTA FLACK SINGS THE BEATLES
80) Etta James' ALL THE WAY
81) Jody Watley's INTIMACY
82) Jody Watley's JODY WATLEY
83) Dionne Warwick's THE DIONNE WARWICK COLLECTION: HER ALL-TIME GREATEST HITS
84) Jill Scott's WHO IS JILL SCOTT?
85) Maria McKee's YOU GOTTA SIN TO GET SAVED
86) Natalie Cole's DANGEROUS
87) Rihanna's ANTI
88) Rihanna's UNAPOLOGETIC
89) Vanessa Williams' THE COMFORT ZONE
90) Barbra Streisand's THE SECOND BARBRA STREISAND ALBUM
91) Rickie Lee Jones' NAKED SONGS: LIVE AND ACOUSTIC
92) Laura Nyro's CHRISTMAS AND THE BEADS OF SWEAT
93) Laura Nyro's LAURA: LIVE AT THE BOTTOM LINE
94) Cat Power's THE GREATEST
95) Joanna Newsom's HAVE ONE ON ME
96) Joss Stone's LP1
97) Nanci Griffith's ONE FAIR SUMMER EVENING
98) The Pointer Sisters' BREAK OUT
99) Chaka Khan's CLOUDS
100) Taylor Swift's REPUTATION
And there are so many others. I wish I'd said 200 and not 100. But those are the 100 off the top of my head.
The following sites updated:
