Wednesday, July 11, 2007

"Put on that Red Dress, Baby, I said We're Goin' Out Tonight

You better bring some boxin' gloves
In case some fool might wanna fight"

from the medly "high heeled sneakers/ big boss man" as covered by chris smither on "another way to find you"

Chris Smither is one of my favorite singer-songwriters. He has one of the most unique and distinctive sounds in the business. He is a musicians Musician. His song 'Love You like a Man " is covered by Bonnie Raitt and 'Mail Order Mystics" by the legendary John Mayall. His song 'Origin of the Species" from the Album "Leave the Light on" made the Rolling Stones list of top 100 from 2006.
Chris first album came in the early 70"s and due to a little problem with alchoholism, there would not be another one for 13 years.

His Masterpiece seems to be a Live album from 1991 called "Another Way to Find You"
The song I have supplied for your perusal is "No Love Today" from 1999 and his collection "Drive You Home Again"

The Chorus is a street vendors chant from the streets of New Orleans where Chris grew up...

"I got Banana, Watermelon, Peaches by the pound
Sweet Corn, Merliton, more better than in town
I got Okra, enough to choke ya, Beans of every kind
If hungry is whats eatin' you
I'll sell you piece of mine
But thats not what you came to hear me say
And I hate to disappoint you,

but I got no love today"

Like most of Chris' songs there is a beautiful wisdom in the closing lines...click here to give a listen.

"In the end no one will sell you what you need
You can't buy it off a shelf
You have to grow it from a seed"


Chris says he is in love with Language and it shows. If you ever get a chance to see Chris, tell him I sent you.
I hesitate to supply this link to 'World Cafe" as the quality of the vocals starts out a little weak, but it does pick up and speaks well for him. and at 6:16 minutes into it you can hear "Origin of the Species"... and @ 39:25 there is the title track to "Leave the Light On" a very nice tune.

"These races that we run are not for Glory
No Moral to the story
we run for peace of mind
But the race we're running now is never ending
Since Space and Time are bending
There is no finish line"

We'll do some more of his one of these days...

7 comments:

GEWELS said...

Nice sound clip. He's quite poetic!

GrizzBabe said...

I love that you rarely mention an artist I've heard of.

Anonymous said...

oh - another new favorite..... i have to echo grizzababe ..... you definitely are the 'music man'

Dave Renfro said...

I just ordered Chris Smither Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop on itunes. The 17 songs, including a ten-minute version of "Desolation Row," are downloading as I type. The label is emusic live so I guess it is an electronic-only album or something. I looked for that 1991 release you mentioned but didn't find it. After listening to just a few sound samples from various other albums, I zoomed right in on that 2004 live album because it is live, his voice is a bit raspier, and I could hear the audience laughing. Must be good! Well, I think it's done downloading so I'm going to go give it a listen.

Oh, and your ass better be here for his show on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. I understand if you can't make it, but make it anyway! ...but I understand if you can't... Too bad Junior Brown isn't opening for him... That would be the must-see show of the century!

Dave Renfro said...

Hey! The Live at McCabe's is awesome! I'm not sure what a studio album from him would sound like but damn! Can he ever work a live audience! Great stuff! Too many exclamation points in one paragraph! Looks funny!

bulletholes said...

griz- a greater compliment you could not pay me-
dave- thats why i love you man- that one doesn't even appear onh his discography- good job!

Anonymous said...

Chris Smither is it, man.
He's great live.
- -
Okay,
F a t h e r L u k e