Monday, January 28, 2013

Waking up to a monday morning blast of sheryl crow...

Some days just feel RIGHT ~ especially when the first song of the day sounds like this ~ the new one from Sheryl Crow:  Shot Gun.

Confession time:  this sister blows me away with her rock and funk stuff. She is bright, sassy, grounded in the tradition and knows how to work a song in all the right ways.  I've been a fan for a while and love how she can make an old groove come to life again in new ways.  Looks like she's having a good time, ya?  (And dig the two guitar funk riff with one going high... OMG!)

Two other all-time Ms. Crow songs for me would have to include:  Steve McQueen and A Change Would Do You Good.  In both she creates a rock and roll foundation but brings  something of her own feminine wisdom and experience to the scene, too.  For example, she flips the love-em-and-leave-em male-rocker stereotype upside down in "McQueen" while offering an broadside against consumer culture all with a killer backbeat.  She's doing what Phil Ochs once dreamed of:  Elvis Presley meets Woody Guthrie. (In truth I think they call that creation Bruce Springsteen but Crow does the tradition proud, too.)

To be sure, this woman can be naughty - she likes to play - and has lived through cancer AND Lance Armstrong so she's entitled - but she's never vulgar or crude.

And dig the way "Change" plays with similar material in the official video... she knows what she wants.  And it has a lot to do with making certain that idiots LEAVE ME ALONE!  (I love the black and white attitude and camera work here - the way she catches her guitar for a moment - and then deals with her shit being dumped on the street.  And when she meets herself on the street... hmmmm?)  Ever been there?  She gets it right...

Well, friends, after an annual meeting at church that went well yesterday, here's to a great Monday... time to start getting ready for Lent!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...


It can't be getting toward Lent yet, I still have Halloween candy. (Not to mention Christmas stuff not put away...)

RJ said...

Too damn close, my friend. I got my Lent I bulletin done - and we're doing a joint ecumenical Ash Wednesday, too so that's wrapped up. I hope by week's end to have things in good shape through Palm Sunday. Hang on, the journey starts getting wild again, yes?

Anonymous said...

I'm lucky perhaps in that my Lenten observance consists pretty much of remembering what my observant Catholic other-half does and doesn't eat on Fridays. The UU congregation where I worship has a lot of Humanists and getting too theological about Easter is pushing it; I don't think they'd observe Lent even if someone suggested it.

On the other hand, January has been "seminary application season", and as soon as the taxes are done, it becomes "student aid application season" followed by "season of gnawing the fingernails" and then "trying to figure out how to get time off day job to attend denominational conference" season...

I'm getting the impression it doesn't ever really stop. Maybe if I'm lucky it will slow down for awhile.

RJ said...

It is relentless (the Camus version) or a waterfall (the Zen thing) or just a journey (the Christian, mytho-poetic take) all of which resonate with me. Blessings as you take the next step. I'm all for slowing down however it happens.

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