DD Shift

I am hearing the song “Irish Blood, English Heart” by Morrissey. This entry will be pure music. So, if you are here for educational purposes, skip this.

On July 4th, zufälligerweise, I was in London visiting my partner in crime… and, much to our surprise Morrissey was playing at a concert in Hyde Park. Having had missed opportunities to see him in the past (timing was always wrong, wrong), we seized this one. We acquired tickets through some sort of suspicious sidewalk reseller… and we were in.

I was skeptical. Morrissey was playing at the O2 Wireless Music Festival, so I expected a crowd that were there for the general music (and obviously the drinking). Morrissey followed a very disaffected performance by Beck, and we came closer to the stage as soon as Beck finished. I soon realized that I was surrounded by plenty of people who were much like me; mid-thirties, there to sing along… There were also enough people there to make it unpleasant; beer bottle hurling boozers, megalomaniacs shoving through the masses to take their places in front (they are, after all, entitled and untouchable)…

As with his live performances that I have heard (recordings), Morrissey provided his standard stream-of-consciousness satire between songs. He changed his shirt twice. You can find the song list all over online…

He performed well. His voice was full on. The crowd, given the awkward mix, was dull. I loved the performance. I hated the venue.

Given my limited experience seeing him actually live, it appears he’s too big to play in a venue that is relevant for his voice and his lyrics. Or, maybe today’s available venues are too big to be relevant. In the O2 venue, I felt that the music held more mockery than mitleid. Of course, that is my own frog perspective. And, I won’t have that again.

I was hearing the song, “Let the Mystery Be”. This is going to take a bit of explaining, and I want to remember this, so this entry will be dedicated simply to music.

Back in the 90’s sometime, Natalie Merchant was in concert. I think, technically, she was still with the 10000 Maniacs at the time. Ms. Merchant announced in the concert that they would be doing “MTV’s Unplugged” in a few weeks. Anyway, I found this CD at a random, off-the-beaten path music store a long, long time ago (store no longer exists). I paid about $40 for it. I gave it to my husband (who is a huge fan of hers). The concert itself is fine. They play a lot of their more popular music. But, there is an outstanding part where Ms. Merchant covers two songs:

1. “Everyday is Like Sunday” (by Steven Morrissey) – It is quite possibly the best cover I have heard of this song.
2. And, “Let the Mystery Be” by Iris Dement. It was the first time that I had heard this song.

I have looked up and down for that CD. It is gone, gone, gone (thanks to our many moves, I’m sure). But, on the CD Ms. Merchant asks for requests from the audience. People call out “Peace Train”, and she gives her little speech about why she does not sing that song, but she does follow up with “Let the Mystery Be” which she felt very good about singing…

I woke up with that song in my head– the live CD version. It is not the version that she later did live as a duet with David Byrne. Actually, in this concert CD she does a duet with a female singer. The singer does the harmony (and, very, very well, I might add).

So, I thought that I would look up Iris Dement. I can hear in my head Ms. Merchant saying Ms. Dement’s name quite clearly. One of the first hits that I saw was for Youtube for exactly this song… Hooray! I got to see what her voice sounds like.

I will admit, her interpretation is subtly different from Ms. Merchant’s. Ms. Dement’s version is a little more playful which actually adds character to the song. And, if you look at the lyrics, it quite a playful song. But, I do like how Ms. Merchant’s voice matches the song… I’m going to have to see if I can find if I have that song somewhere…

One of the side links at the Youtube site that caught my attention while listening to Ms. Dement. It was for a song that often gets stuck in my head: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”. This link was a very different version that I am used to. I really like the beginning half of this version. Ms. Dement is one of the performers in this group. I will have to figure out where this came from and look at the other songs available on this album.

Looking in the Youtube links, I also found that this song has been covered by a ton of people. I do realize that it is a classic, but who knew? I would mention all of them, but this list would be too long. I have to say that I was taken by Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon’s version. But, I think my favorite this morning has to be the one posted by Kikumasa00. They have pickers, fiddlers and the right attitude!! I love it!

My favorite version of all time, though, comes from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It’s actually from Volume 2 of their “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” album. It was recorded in 1972. It is a great album. According to Wikipedia, volume 1 was more widely acclaimed. I will have to check into it.

One of my favorite parts about the album is that you can listen to the commentary of the musicians in between the music. Maybelle Carter’s voice is unmistakable. Listening to the commentary, you kind of get the feeling that it wasn’t really a recording session, but rather a random get-together of few [great] musicians where they just happened to create something great. According to the Wikipedia article about this album, there was a little more conflict in the music scene of the time than comes out in the final cut.