I’m back from my bittersweet high school reunion. The trip was great. Gave my bf a big hometown tour of me. Don’t worry, he didn’t suffer. There were plenty of river boats, historical re-enactors and pre-historic mounds to keep him happy. Story and pics coming soon.
In the meantime, Cherworld has posted an amazingly unusual Cher interview (it’s European, of course). Give it a looksee. Something about it will relate to my high school reunion story.
For my bf’s birthday last year I gave him two Laura Nyro CDs. He had expressed interest in my Nyro/LaBelle CD which I bought because I love Patty LaBelle. Still, he didn’t like Laura Nyro at all (although since yesterday, I discovered he secretly has been listening to one of them at work) and these two CDs have been on my list of things to listen to for about a year. Two days ago I finally put on Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, her breakout album on the Columbia label with then-manager David Geffen.
First of all, I had placed Nyro in the mid 70s, not late 60s. Knowing this tid-bit unlocked a door for me. I can say I finally get it: her fluid genre-melds are pretty amazing for the time and her lyrics are poeticly playful. I’m still not very fond of her soprano voice. It’s too shrill for me most of the time. But I love “Sweet Blindness” and “Stoned Soul Picnic” and “Poverty Train” has really grown on me. And best of all, I finally see from where came Nelly McKay!
I’m a bit overwhelmed with catching up on Cher news this week but I did join my first Facebook Cher group: If You Don’t Love Cher, You Are A Dirty Dirty Communist. Good questions are not really brewing there yet but I did see a good question on the Yahoo!Chergroups list posted by daniel martinez:
What Cher song has the most meaning to you and why?
This is a particularly difficult question for me. I’m not very sentimental about Cher songs. I’m much more academic and cerebral about my love of Cher music. Her albums do notate the timeline of my life but mostly as a background soundtrack. For instance, we used to yell the chorus of “Laugh at Me” before doing belly bombs into our neighborhood pool. I also remember re-enacting the storyline of “Send the Man Over” from Cherished. However, I was only 8 years old and the major sexual innuendos in the song went over my innocent five-foot head. I guess the two songs that tug on my heart-sleeves would be "Somebody" and "Danny Boy."
"Somebody" reminds me of being five or six years old in the mid-70s, listening to Sonny & Cher on my parents phonograph in our front living room – lots of New Mexico sunlight, the jump rope as my microphone. Groovy times. I love Cher’s vocal on that song. And "Danny Boy" always makes me vaclempt. The sadness in her voice. Speaking from beyond the grave. It’s all there. You can read more about my top 10 favorite Cher songs on Cherscholar.
You’re welcome for that info, Tyler. Thanks to your You Tube post, I’ve now heard the COMEDY HOUR version. I actually prefer the CHER show version, as she sings it slightly more maturely, in my opinion. But in both you can tell that she’s really ‘feeling’ what she’s singing.
I bought a used Laura Nyro CD once….New York Tendaberry, I think…I was curious, because she’s so well respected. She may be a great writer, but the vocals put me off so much that I couldn’t even listen twice.
Oh So Laura Nyro wrote Stone Soul Picnic?
It was covered to fairly good sucess by “The Supremes” meanig with out their former diva leader. Give it a listen its a real groovy cut. So glad you are back and peckin out your blog. Since you were gone I have discovered a tidbit about Cher singing one song twice on TV. The Stevie Wonder penned tune “All in Love is Fair.”
It turns out (through a lot of research) this was the last solo in the spotlight song Cher taped for the “Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” but actually aired the week before the final show aired as they were shown out of order. It was also the very first solo in the spotlight song Cher sang on “The Cher Show”. In the premier special episode with Bette Midle, Elton John and Flip Wilson. It is very interesting to compare and contrast the performances. Check it out and see how you feel about it and it’s signifigance in CHERhistory.