Warning... this is an adult site. If reading or viewing things about what gay men do sexually with one another bothers you - you should not read this blog. This blog is a reflection of my adventures and thoughts. Some are fun, some not so pretty. I won't name names, or kiss and tell... but I will live to tell. And baby, trust me - I am gonna spill it all over your pretty little party dress. Enjoy!
Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus - George Jones & Tammy Wynette
Time for a little country twang! And it comes in the form of country royalty, country music's first super-couple: George Jones and Tammy Wynette.
One can only imagine the lead up to Xmas at their Nashville digs: Tammy, a cup of coffee in hand, resplendent in a floor-length champagne-colored peignoir set, her likewise colored hair set upon her head in a shimmering cascade of curls, staring through half-lidded false-lashed eyes at the giant, brilliant white artificial tree taking center stage in her pristine living room, its red bulbs shining bightly, reminding her of the pills she has to take in order to sit upright each morning (where were those damn pills?), while, across town, George wakes up, after having slept face down, on the beer-sticky, cigarette butt strewn floor of one of his favorite honkytonks (the one where they let him plug the jukebox as he listens over and over again to Tammy warbling Stand By Your Man until the moment he passes out), a sprig of mistletoe stuck to his sweaty forehead, a Hallmark card wishing the love of his life a Merry Christmas, crumpled in the front right pocket of his Levi workman-cut jeans.
But America (well, certain parts, anyway) were only all to willing to welcome them into their homes for the holidays, for they were the king and queen of country music, and now? Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus!
Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus - George Jones & Tammy Wynette
This little ditty, released by Epic Records (5-11077) in 1973, was a one-off single, coming on the heels of their prior album, 1972's We Love To Sing About Jesus. It didn't chart, but, it also didn't matter. Tammy and George were both a bit too 'preoccupied ' to even notice.
For a mere two years later, they were petitioning the court for a D-I-V-O-R-C-E!
Spotlighting some recently-released classic diva turns on the part of three of our faves this week.
I must say, you are in for quite the treat.
Up first? The ever-lovely Gwen Stefani in full boot-scootin' style, telling us how he's now Somebody Else's (and she's all the better for it!)
Then we have the smoky-voiced Julia Church, taking us to church in league with the Cheat Code's digital throbber Modern Tragedy.
And finally, Lil Nas X (with a little help from Daft Punk), spurring us all on to be our best, live our life and achieve in the spirit-raising banger Light Again!
In my own personal big gay church there is a special wing dedicated to The Working Girls. These are ladies whom have had long careers spanning decades with great chart success. They've hosted shows, appeared on variety shows, championed causes and had their ups and downs. But they kept working.
One such journeywoman?
Tanya Tucker.
Ups and downs seems to be the course life handed her.
Of course, much of it was her own doing, but...
When you become world famous at the age of 13, well, things are bound to get a little rocky from time to time.
She had the market cornered when it came to innocent young things singing about very adult going-ons.
And once she and her management decided it was time to move into adulthood? This little lady kicked the door down with a pair of rhinestone cowboy boots!
The saga of Tanya and Glenn. My, oh, my, the tabloids had a field day. The shenanigans the two of them got up to are the thing of legends.
And it was all good fun, until... the day it wasn't.
From then on, things got a little better, until they got a little worse, until they got a little better...
Through it all, she sang her heart out.
At the moment?
Thing are great now.
She's taking her victory lap. One doesn't have a career with the length and and amount of success she's achieved and not deserve a few well-deserved standing ovations.
Thing is?
There'll never be another like her!
The gospel according to her?
Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.
The topic? The Road To Wellness
"Everybody has problems."
"There’s no way to be able to tell what it’s like to be a country singer until you’re walking in the shoes."
"The more people told me that, you know, wow, you should be so blessed. Don’t you feel blessed? And you have all this—mansion and all these beautiful things. And I said, you know—the more they told me that, the more depressed I got."
"When I was younger, I thought about retiring."
"Well, you know, certain—for one reason, I think that the intervention process is a good process for most people, but for me, it just looked like a bunch of my friends trying to get back at me and sit around taking jabs at me, you know, when I couldn’t defend myself."
"I don’t think I was really addicted. I used it as a party tool."
"I have always been the life of the party. When I got to the point where I wasn't anymore, I knew something was wrong. I didn't know what it was. Once you figure it out, you can start to fix the problem. It's a day-to-day struggle."
"At one point, I didn’t get out of bed for, I think, three months, and I went down to the bottom of the hill one day and I had to call somebody to get me to come back up—come pick me up because I couldn’t physically walk up the hill."
"Words are not even within me. They’re not in my vocabulary to really express the kind of feeling that I had."
"That’s the era we grew up in. It’s weak to go to a psychiatrist."
"He does all research now, but he put me on some medication, Zoloft, and, I tell you what, a lot of people have had pros and cons about it, but it was my wonder drug."
"But the main thing is that medication, too, is not all the help."
"You know, as any parent will say, you know, life happens."
What's Your Mama's Name? - Tanya Tucker
Soon - Tanya Tucker
When The Rodeo Is Over (Where Does The Cowboy Go?) - Tanya Tucker
And one last parting shot...
"I don’t know what keeps me going. Sometimes I wonder… I think it’s just pure perseverance and wanting to succeed and having that burning desire to always have success."
"I have an unending desire to be better and make myself a better person, better mother."
"The best thing is being able to perform in front of people and to express my feelings, whatever they may be at the time. Just to be able to make the world a happier place to be."
In my own, personal, big gay church, there is a wing dedicated to Those of the Heart. These are the singers, songwriters and muses who have spent a lifetime capturing various aspects of the human condition. Frequently, due to the whims of the music industry, their lives were not always their own... but they persevered... ultimately remaining true to their roles as seers of the heart. One such soul?
Rosanne Cash.
Smart and articulate. Wary and self-possessed. Knowing.
If she had a chip on her shoulder, she only used it to forge new territory.
And if life is a field of landmines, she'd be the one to pick to guide you through it.
She knows things. Born that way. Eyes open, recording the human experience and taking it to heart.
Back in the day, she was unlike anything country music had experienced before. And...
She was country music royalty. That meant something. And while she never relied upon it to further her career... she has always been very aware and respectful of her roots.
She was riding high... 11 #1 country hits.
And then, just like the rest of us... life hit hard. Several times. Heartache. Brain surgery. And loss.
She came back from each stronger, utilizing her gifts as a songwriter to cope, comprehend and share what she'd learned.
Today, she's as vital and relevant as the day she stepped onto the scene.
She's never been anything less than authentic... which is why hers is a flame which keeps burning.
The gospel according to her?
Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.
The topic: Songwriting
"I wanted to be a songwriter. I didn't so much want to be a performer. I more grew into that just from being a songwriter."
"I wanted to be the writer in the room setting depth charges of feeling out the world with my language. You know, I had a very romantic idea about that. But I grew into being a performer."
"My voice just serves what I'm writing about. So to let all that go, I mean, bring the sensibilities of it actually to the song choices, but to just be the interpreter was incredibly liberating, really fun."
"The ephemeral nature of live performance is the part I love most - it's a monk's sand painting, carefully constructed, then wiped away in an instant."
"Sometimes the fragment of a conversation, the color of the sky, the image in a dream, has everything to do with where the song begins."
"I dream of songs. I dream they fall down through the centuries, from my distant ancestors, and come to me. I dream of lullabies and sea shanties and keening cries and rhythms and stories and backbeats."
"But there's nothing that gives me more thrill than when I'm writing and a couplet works. I find the right rhyme, or it's just perfect. There's nothing that exciting."
"Think about all of the families where the father is a doctor and the son is a doctor or generations of coal miners. Why did they go into that line of work? Because that's what they were taught. Or was it in their genes? It's not an either/or question. It's both. I was inclined in that way."
"I was sensitive to music and poetry, and it was around me growing up."
"I think that my sensitivity to music has actually deepened and expanded as I've gotten older. You add more life experience."
"Isn't that the goal, as you grow older? That you start reclaiming those parts of yourself you didn't recognize or didn't think were there all along?"
"Like Thornton Wilder said, time is not a river, but rather a landscape that you step in and out of. I've always found that true of creative work, and I've heard so many songwriters and writers in general say the same thing. When you're going into the realms of your self and trying to tap into the mystery of this creative source, linear time kind of falls away."
Seven Year Ache - Rosanne Cash
Second To No One - Rosanne Cash
The Walking Wounded - Rosanne Cash
And one last parting shot...
"As I started writing about loss and grief, I was taking what felt unmanageable and using my songwriting, my sense of poetry and discipline, to try and make it manageable."
"With time the unbearable becomes shocking, becomes sad, and finally becomes poignant."
"Loss is the great unifier, the terrible club to which we all eventually belong."
A bit of a musical cage match today - two established singers go into a recording studio with the same song, but only one emerges victorious. And though it took another two years, the real winner turned out to be the one who initially lost the cage match!
Never Be You is a song written by Tom Petty and Benmont Tench.
The song was to be part of the Streets of Fire film soundtrack album. However, they were unsure who should sing it. Both Rosanne Cash and Maria McKee (from Lone Justice) were sent into the studio to record a version, and it was McKee's version which got the nod and her version was the first to be released.
The version of the song, lip sync'd by Diane Lane in the film, is actually the voice of singer Laurie Sargent. However, Sargent's version was never commercially released on vinyl. In a move to maximize revenue, when it came to the soundtrack album, name artists were handed the songs to sing and it's their versions which populate the actual album. Of the name artists used, only Dan Hartman came up with a winner; his version of Dream About You became a #1 hit.
As for McKee's version of the song, it was released as a promo only single with The Blaster's One Bad Stud, but never received a full release.
But don't worry. You see, Cash's version did not go to waste.
It was released in September of 1985 as the second single from her fifth album, 1985's Rhythm & Romance. The song was Cash's fifth #1 on the country chart, spending a total of 16 weeks. It also scored well in Canada, where it snagged the #2 slot on their country chart.
Thus, in the end? When it came to this song? Cash ended up being the real winner.
And that's the whole story.
Now? On to the competition.
The Song: Never Be You
The Competitors: McKee vs. Cash
Never Be You - Maria McKee
Never Be You - Rosanne Cash
Maria McKee
This is an odd choice for the Streets Of Fire soundtrack; it sits oddly next to the pumped up hyperbole of the tracks written and produced by Jim Steinman. But then again, the whole affair is a mixed bag of sounds, from the Stevie Nicks penned Sorcerer as sung by Marilyn Martin, and prime cuts from The Blasters and The Fixx.
Produced by Jimmy Iovine & Tom Petty, we end up with a nice mix of root rock, pop smarts, with a bit of drama thrown in.
The band sounds great, nice and full with a bit of country swing to it. McKee's vocals are treated with quite a bit of reverb. I'm also surprised to find her sitting in the middle, but center, of the mix. Her voice sounds like a classic country music star from the 1960's doing a bit of modern sounding stuff.
Oh, I like the lead into the chorus. The backing vocals are subtle but provide huge support. Surprised she clips her notes so short. And once the chorus kicks in, we get a mix of yodel and throaty ache from her. It's a classic sound with a lovely edge to it.
I have a feeling that in order to compete with the rest of the soundtrack, the producers were encouraged to really pump up the sound. It strikes me as more than the song or the singer need.
Love the pout on "Baby, please don't cry." I was a huge fan of Lone Justice and always felt they didn't get their due.
She certainly doesn't shy away from taking risks; at times bratty, slapping out and dismissing phrases with a sense of purpose and drive. The jangly guitar counter melody actually dominates that chorus. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I simply am surprised given the singer's great chops. Iovine and Petty made a choice or were told to do that and... I'm not sure it was a good idea.
Oh, I like the bottle neck guitar counter melody on the C-section. Nice touch. But the C-section is also where I notice how multi-tracked McKee's vocals are... as if, no one trusted the singer or the song to carry the day.
I like the arrangement best when the acoustic piano is allowed to trickle in, as in the beginning of verse three. That sounds great. But those multi-tracked vocals keep creating a lot of dissonant buzz. I like it, but at the same time, it feels very unfocused. Sort of like vocals-by-committee. The only time it all works is that lead in to the chorus. Her brash dismissiveness and the arrangement are perfectly met in those eight bars. The rest feels overly-busy, with too much competing for the listener's ear.
This is definitely not a Maria McKee number. We hardly get to really hear her. And that's a damn shame, because her vocal abilities are a force of nature... she's capable of singing things in a manner I don't think any vocal instructor ever could break down and teach. Her intuitive way of singing takes a backseat here to big drums and revved up, jangly guitars.
In short, her uniqueness gets lost in the mix. This thing ends up feeling faceless, and that's...
Kind of a shame.
I like it. I'd listen to it again. But it could have been something much more than this.
Rosanne Cash
Speaking of big drums...
A much cleaner approach to the same sound.
Cash slips in with an almost confessional feel to her vocals. The arrangement cedes and allows her total focus. Love that chuckling guitar line that snakes up from behind that second stanza. They are only interested in this thing crackling like a fire about to catch.
I have always liked Cash's swagger. After appreciating McKee's build into the chorus, I must say, I'm a bit underwhelmed by Cash's take on the same. I was hoping for a bit more bite.
The nice thing? I'm actually paying attention to the lyrics - because they're easy to make out. She starts breaking out a bit more in the middle of verse two and the build into the chorus is more what I wanted the first time. It's a very clean arrangement. Tame? Not sure I would have felt that way had I not heard Iovine and Petty's take on it.
Huh. The C-section relies heavily on the backing vocals and that odd synth sawing away in the middle of the mix. When we finally do get some guitar fireworks, it's sort of by-the-book. Fitting, though.
Love that fat bass sound on the verses. Verse three has the rock-kicking strut I have been looking for. There's always something so introspective in the manner Cash sings. It's why she's the focus here. I have to say, the last third of this works perfectly. It's a bit homogenized, radio-ready... but the nice thing is I enjoy the swagger and the swing of it. And I really end up being charmed by that damn hook. Producers David Malloy, Rodney Crowell, and David Thoener, along with Cash, bring just enough New Wave sentiment to the proceedings to keep it sharp.
The Verdict
Maria McKee is an amazing vocalist, but this was not her ticket. Iovine and Petty failed to make it about her - and it really should have been. She's got a enough shit-kicker panache to give this song the edge they were looking for, minus the bombastic arrangement they saddled her with. It's a missed opportunity, but then, I also am thinking a slicked up schizoid film soundtrack wasn't the sort of environment where something genuine was going to be happening.
Cash is in fine form. I love her 'sadder-but-wiser' attitude. The edge she brought to cosmopolitan country at the time was a much needed breath of fresh air. The production work is a lot more tame than I expected, but it does keep the singer in focus and... I appreciate being able to hear all the words. As slick and safe as it feel now, at the time it was considered edgy. So, even though I would have liked the arrangement to be a bit more dangerous, I have to give this to Cash.
She carries the song... like a singer always should.
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And that's enough of me.
Okay, your turn! You know what to do: leave your choice and thoughts in the comments section. I love hearing a differing opinion.
