Music & More

I Can't Dance (and Leo Sayer)

Watching the Obamas last night dancing at the inaugural balls, it reminded me that after 50 plus years of listening to music I still can't dance. (Goofus dancing doesn't count - see my post of October 27th on Delbert McClinton.) Don't ask me why I never took any dancing lessons. I just don't think it ever occurred to me, probably because I was very shy with girls as a youth. I'm the oldest of 3 brothers and I don't believe they can dance either. We all had music lessons - piano, accordion - but no dancing. Maybe I could do the Twist since if I recall correctly it can be done simply by standing in place and swiveling your hips, kind of like playing with a hula hoop without the hoop. Chubby Checker is still probably making  a living on his songs "The Twist" and "Let's Twist Again".

When I heard Sam Cooke singing about how "Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha", it never occurred to me to learn the Cha Cha Cha even though Sam sang that "even little children love to Cha Cha Cha". Of all the many, many 45's, LP's, tapes and now cd's I've purchased over the years, there is not one of them I bought because the song was good to dance to. I never looked at music from that perspective. Maybe that's why I never understood how some inane song with mindless lyrics could become a big hit and some beautiful ballad or story song, poetry set to music, would go nowhere.

This does not mean that I don't like songs with a "good beat" or something loud and crazy on occasion. In fact I like songs about dancing. Leo Sayer comes to mind. My wife and I saw him at Westbury in the late 70's or early 80's (I think) and he put on a great show, singing and dancing all over the stage. We couldn't believe his energy. He sang "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" a fun uptempo tune that I'm sure would be great to dance to and a  slow love song "When I Need You" for dancing up close. The latter is the kind of song my wife and I could dance to because we could basically just stand in place and sway back and forth.

I do have a bone to pick with Leo and co-writer David Courtney about my favorite Leo Sayer song which was released as a single in 1974. Since the old Leo Sayer vinyl  LP I had somehow disappeared over the years, I wanted to replace it with one of his greatest hits cd's. Periodically, I would look at the various internet sites for purchasing music to see what was available. It's always frustrating to me when an artist puts out a greatest hits collection and leaves out one of my favorites. I looked at the lists of songs for every Leo Sayer cd I could find with no luck so I gave it up. Then one day I thought to check out Leo in the I-Tunes store and listened to a song that was apparently one of the songs most frequently purchased.

The song I wanted is about a hobo who must dance for his dinner. He's told "before you can eat, you gotta dance like Fred Astaire". Five times he sings "I Can't Dance" before hunger makes him reconsider. Fourteen times after that he sings "I Can Dance" plus he mentions doing a two-step, quick-step and bossa nova. This is clearly a song about DANCING. In the second stanza, he's singing about all the food and mentions one time that there were "long tall glasses, with wine ...". So they give the  song the title "Long Tall Glasses". GRRRRRRH! Give me a break. Rename it "I Can Dance". I always thought that was the song's title. Or, to be consistent, rename Leo's other great dance song noted above, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" (which he wrote with Vini Poncia and mentions dancing about a zillion times). Call it "Quarter to Four in the Morning" because that phrase appears once in the song's second stanza. Rant finished. And I still can't dance.

Collin Raye

 If you're already a Collin Raye fan, you can probably stop reading right now. You already know that he was a top country hit maker in the 90's and one of country music's all time great singers. (Wikipedia is a good source for information regarding how his singles and cd's have done on the charts plus other career highlights.) I have been fortunate enough to see him twice in concert and would sure love to see him again. I saw him at what used to be called the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island, in October 2000 with Terri Clark and in October 2001 with Patty Loveless. The man can flat out sing. If you weren't a country music fan in the 90's and you're not familiar with Collin, you should give his music a try. Pick any artist currently making the top 40 and you won't find one who can sing with him and he turns 50 this year. There is a current performer older than Collin who continues to produce hit after hit with his country elevator music, despite a voice that is mediocre at best. Can't figure that one out.

If you decide to give Collin a listen - check his Myspace, I-Tune snippets, you-tube, etc., for samples of his music - and like what you hear, you then have to decide the best way to obtain the best of Collin Raye. With the economy the way it is, many cannot afford to go out and buy over 10 cd's. You could start by buying his first greatest hits compilation, "Direct Hits", which was issued in 1997. In addition to the hits it included what were then 3 new songs, "What the Heart Wants", "The Gift", and "Little Red Rodeo" plus a great cover of Steve Perry's (Journey) "Open Arms". The cd liner notes had a feature that I don't ever recall seeing on a greatest hits collection. They provide a complete list of all the songs from his first four cd's in the order in which they appeared on each original album with the hits highlighted. The names of the songwriters are provided plus a picture of the original cd cover. On page 3 of the liner notes you'll find a list of all ten tracks for his first cd "All I Can Be" with the hit "Love Me" highlighted. The 2nd cd "In This Life" highlights the title tune and "That Was a River" on page 4. The 3rd, "Extremes", features "That's My Story" (And I'm Sticking To It - one of the best funny rocking country songs), "My Kind of Girl", "Little Rock" and "If I Were You" on page 6. The 4th cd "I Think About You" highlights the title cut plus "Not That Different" and "One Boy, One Girl" on page 8. The new songs noted above are on page 9.

The only problem with just buying "Direct Hits" to start your Collin Raye collection is that in my humble, inexpert opinion you'll miss some great songs especially on the cd "I Think About You". "Think" also includes "On the Verge" (which should have been on "Direct Hits"), "Heart Full of Rain", "The Time Machine", "I Love Being Wrong", "I Volunteer" and "Love Remains". The first cd has "Every Second" and "'Scuse Moi My Heart", two perky uptempo songs in addition to Collin's signature song "Love, Me" written by Skip Ewing and Max T.  Barnes. The 2nd cd also has a cover of a song made famous by the Everly Brothers, "Let It Be Me" and "Latter Day Cowboy". On "Extremes" in addition to the hits I like "Angel of No Mercy", "A Bible and a Bus Ticket Home" and "Man of My Word"  The best solution is probably to buy DH and some of the other songs on I-Tunes.

"Direct Hits" was followed up with "The Walls Came Down" in 1998. It included the hits "Anyone Else", "I Can Still Feel You" and "Someone You Used to Know" plus "Survivors", "I Wish I Could", (one of my favorite songs from a parent's perspective) written by Tom Douglas and Randy Thomas, "Make Sure You've Got It All" (a Bill Anderson-Steve Wariner song I kind of overlooked when I first played the cd) and his powerful anti-child abuse song written by Karen Taylor-Good and Lisa Aschmann, "The Eleventh Commandment". In 2000, "Tracks" kept pace with songs like his duet with Bobbie Eakes, "Loving This Way", "She's All That", "I Want To Be There", "Completely", "Couldn't Last a Moment", "Landing in Love", "Water and Bridges" and "She's Gonna Fly", a beautiful song from Karen Taylor Good and Jason Blume dealing with a loved one's alzheimer's disease.

The year 2000 also saw "Counting Sheep" an album of songs for children featuring his duet with Melissa Manchester (my wife's all time favorite singer), "A Mother and Father's Prayer" plus "When You Wish Upon a Star", the Beatles' "Blackbird" and a song I remember my mother singing "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral" (an Irish Lullaby). Collin ended his run with Sony Nashville with "Can't Back Down" in 2001. For an album that was probably quickly thrown together (no lyrics were provided), it's still pretty good thanks to Collin's great vocals. Highlights are "What I Need", another inspirational Karen Taylor-Good, Jason Blume collaboration, "Ain't Nobody Gonna Take That From Me", which has also covered by Joe Nichols on his 2007 cd "Real Things", and the last track, a cover of a Michael McDonald song, "I Can Let Go Now".

In 2005 he had his first and only cd with Aspiron Records, "Twenty Years and Change".  Tracks 1 ("I Know That's Right") and 2 ("Hurricane Jane") were singles that didn't chart. I liked "All I Can Do Is Love You", a tune Collin wrote with Melissa Manchester. The new material in general was good if not especially memorable. He covered old songs "The Search is Over" by Survivor, the Bellamy Brother's "Let Your Love Flow" and Conway Twitty's "It's Only Make Believe". I imagine that when you're no longer a hitmaker, it's tougher to get the best new material since the songwriters make more money if their song gets a lot of airplay and sales. 

I don't have all of his original material such as his 2006 cd "Fearless" or his EP from '07 "Selected Hits" which contains new songs "Quitters" and "A Soldier's Prayer" plus 4 oldies. The EP songs are currently on Collin's MySpace. The compilations of old material , "Love Songs" in 2000, "16 Biggest Hits", and "Live at Billy Bob's" in 2004, I didn't purchase since I have almost all the included songs but they provide another option for new fans. His 1996 Christmas cd "The Gift" could have been better. His daughter's singing on "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger" was not a plus, nor was the inclusion of my least favorite Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy". His best cd's of original material are clearly "I Think About You", "The Walls Came Down" and "Tracks". According to the Wikipedia discography for Collin Raye, a new cd called "Never Going Back" is scheduled to be released this year, however there is no mention of it on Collin's own website.

Although I don't usually think of him as a singer/songwriter, Collin does have 27 songwriting credits on the BMI website. His best efforts may be "She's All That" and "Start Over Georgia" written with his brother Scott Wray and his work with Melissa Manchester noted above, "All I Can Do Is Love You". One of his favorite songwriters appears to be Karen Taylor-Good who with her co-writers has provided him with "Not That Different", "Mother and Father's Prayer", "The Eleventh Commandment", "What I Need", "On Angels's Wing" (also the title of KTG's own cd from 2001), "All My Roads" and two songs from the "Counting Sheep" children's album, "When You Say Your Prayers" and "The Dream Song". Another favorite is Hugh Prestwood with "On the Verge", "Heart Full Of Rain", "Latter Day Cowboy", "April Fool" and "Corner of the Heart". Mr. Prestwood generally writes alone. For other songwriters, see the ASCAP and BMI website links to the right of this post.

Coonts Classic?

 "The Garden of Eden" by Stephen Coonts, writing under the pseudonym Eve Adams, is  a funny, feel-good story that's tough to put down. I started reading it on New Year's Eve and finished late on New Year's Day. My soft-cover edition is 338 pages. The book was originally published in 2005 and there are plenty of on-line reviews that you can read. I see that Mr. Coonts, born in my birth year of 1946, is the author of quite a few "techno-thrillers" or action adventures, genres I usually avoid due to personal preference not any reflection on their value or quality. Since I enjoyed the writing style of Mr. Coonts so much, I may be tempted to try one of his action novels. 

This departure from the action genre by Mr. Coonts is certainly not unprecedented. In "Wish You Well", published in 2000, David Baldacci demonstrated his versatility as a writer with a very enjoyable novel with a rural setting and John Grisham has successfully ventured away from his legal thrillers with books like "A Painted House", "Bleachers", "Skipping Christmas" and a great non-fiction work "The Innocent Man" (However his latest attempt, "Playing For Pizza", was disappointing).    

May all have a happy and healthy New Year. My wife and I managed to see the ball drop to signal the arrival of '09 but we cheated. Since we're Nashville residents we're on Central Time so we watched the festivities on CNN and got to go to bed just after 11 pm. Even though we've lived here over 2 years now, we feel that our bodies are still on Eastern Time. We generally do not go out on New Year's Eve (last time we did was probably over 30 years ago); we prefer to celebrate at home and avoid the crowds, drunks and overpriced entertainment.