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Rating: I was passing by a record store near my house, back when they still existed, in search of wise advice. It was one of those stores you don't see anymore, inhabited by strange creatures, more like passionate enthusiasts of various music than sales clerks. I am told that in other worlds, such as jazz and classical, these rare creatures full of passion still linger in dusty dens. In the world I will superficially call "rock," this species has been replaced by natural selection with a less specialized, less kind, and completely indifferent type to the material it sells, whether it is music or sausages.
I was used to chatting with the salespeople and asking them "what do you recommend today?" much like you ask a good bartender "make me a cocktail of your choice." Another way to say: "surprise me!" These were places where you would enter like a castaway, in search of any refuge from the daily storms, and often you would find it too. If there's one thing I miss about the new musical world, divided between online and the shopping mall, it’s this physical and affectionate perception of exchange. Nostalgic? Just a little, just sometimes. Today, yes.
"Songbird" by Eva Cassidy is tied to the last years of that little shop: it was one of the last recommendations I received from the elderly clerk and his young colleague who took turns going to London to find juicy novelties to present to customers. They introduced me to this album with a big smile. Inside, a series of more or less known tracks, from Sting's "Fields of Gold" to the famous "Over the Rainbow," passing through songs by Pete Seeger and Curtis Mayfield and American "traditional" pieces like "Wayfaring Stranger." All performers that meant (and still mean) little to me... The cover was terrible, it looked like one of those rejects you find at the bottom of highway café baskets, and the idea of a cover album has never excited me much. In short, I was a bit skeptical. But when I heard Eva's voice, from the first track, all doubts vanished.
I, who love ungraceful voices, inspired hoarseness, alcoholic wheezes, and haunted circuses, found myself at the mercy of an angel.
American from Washington, Eva Cassidy died of melanoma without ever achieving success in 1996 at the age of only 33. The music market noticed her almost by chance in 2001 thanks to a word-of-mouth among listeners, bringing her too late to the top of the charts (number 1 in the USA and the UK) with this collection of tracks taken from her old works.
With an imaginary split between soul and blues, a flexible and crystal-clear voice capable of moving freely from jazz to pop to rhythm & blues, Eva Cassidy in "Songbird" is accompanied by fairly ordinary musicians, with a clear but not very personal sound. Essentially, she does it all. But it doesn't matter; there is something unique in that voice. A personality capable of making even well-known melodies her own. A clear timbre, spring water with a distant blemish... a vague aftertaste of bitter earth, but just a distant shadow, like an old childhood trauma. Nothing to do with Janis Joplin's desperate illness or Sade's soft sensuality, perhaps a bit more like Joni Mitchell's "Blue." But here there are no virtuosos, no excesses, nothing at all. Yet the poor American singer took me with her, far from everyone, and while she sings the traditional gospel "Wade in the Water," she makes me feel as if carried away by the current of a great river. It feels good and bad, simultaneously.
I imagine myself with her, at fifteen, like new Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in skirts, in a clear countryside never corrupted by the woes of life, with a future ahead where, as Guccini said, “it's all still to be done and still everything, or almost everything, to be wrong.”
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Fields of Gold (04:44)
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
among the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky,
when we walked in fields of gold
So she took her love,
for to gaze awhile,
among the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
among the fields of gold
Will you stay with me?
Will you be my love
Among the fields of barley?
And you can tell the sun in his jealous sky
when we walked in fields of gold
I never made promises lightly,
and there have been some that i have broken,
but i swear in the days still left
we will walk in fields of gold,
we will walk in fields of gold
(instrumental)
I never made promises lightly,
and there have been some that i have broken,
but i swear in the days still left
we will walk in fields of gold,
we will walk in fields of gold
Many years have passed since those summer days
among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down,
as you lie in fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
among the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
when we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
02 Wade in the Water (04:04)
"Refrain:
Wade in the Water
Wade in the Water children
Wade in the Water, God's gonna trouble the Water
Who's that young girl dressed in red
Wade in the Water
Must be the Children that Moses led
God's gonna trouble the Water
Refrain
Who's that young girl dressed in white
Wade in the Water
Must be the Children of Israeli
God's gonna trouble the Water
Refrain
Who's that young girl dressed in blue
Wade in the Water
Must be Children that's coming true
God's gonna trouble the Water
Refrain
You don't believe I did begin to wade in the Water
Just see the holy ghost looking for me
God's gonna trouble the Water
Refrain"
03 Autumn Leaves (04:43)
The falling leaves
Drift by my window.
The falling leaves of red and gold.
I see your lips,
the summer kisses,
the sunburned hands i used to hold.
Since you went away
the days grow long
And soon i'll hear old winter song
But i miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
Since you went away
the days grow long
And soon i'll hear old winter song
But i miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
04 Wayfaring Stranger (04:28)
Verse 1
I am a poor wayfaring stranger,
While journeying through,
This world of woe,
Yeah, and there's no sickness,
toil nor danger,
In that bright land,
To which i go.
Chorus
I'm going there to see my Father,
I'm going there,
No more to roam,
I'm only go,
Going over jordan,
I'm only go,
Going over home.
Verse 2
I know dark clouds,
Will gather on me,
I no my way,
My way is rough and steep,
Yeah, and beautiful fields,
Lie just before me,
And God's redeemed
Their vigils keep.
Chorus
I'm going there to see my Father,
I'm going there,
No more to roam,
I'm only go,
Going over jordan,
I'm only go,
Going over home.
I'm going there to see my Mother,
I'm going there,
No more to roam,
I'm only go,
Going over jordan,
I'm only go,
Going over home.
Verse 3
I want to wear,
That crown of glory,
When I get home,
To that good land,
Well, I want to shout,
Salvation's story,
In concert with,
All the blood-washed band.
Chorus
I'm going there to see my Saviour,
I'm going there,
No more to roam,
I'm only go,
Going over jordan,
I'm only go,
Going over home,
Well, i'm only go,
Going over home,
Yeah, only....(repeat till fade)....
05 Songbird (03:45)
For you, there'll be no crying
For you, the sun will be shining
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you
It's alright
I know it's right
And the songbirds keep singing like they know the score
And I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before
To you, I would give the world
To you, I'd never be cold
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you
It's alright
I know it's right
And the songbirds keep singing like they know the score
And I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before
Like never before
Like never before
07 I Know You by Heart (04:01)
Midnights in winter
The glowing fire
Lights up your face in orange and gold
I see your sweet smile
Shine through the darkness
It's line is etched in my memory
So I'd know you by heart
Mornings in april
Sharing the secrets
We'd walk until the morning was gone
We were like children
Laughing for hours
The joy you gave me
Lives on and on
'Cause I know you by heart
I still hear your voice
On warm summer nights
Whispering like the wind
ohhh, ohhhh, ohhhhh, ohhhh
You left in autumn
The leaves were turning
I walked down roads of orange and gold
I saw your sweet smile
I heard your laughter
You're still here beside me
Everyday
'Cause I know you by heart
'Cause I know you by heart
08 People Get Ready (03:18)
People get ready
There's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear diesels a-humming
You don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord
Yeah yeah yeah
People get ready
For the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers
From coast to coast
Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
There's room for all
Among the loved and lost
Now there ain't no room
For the hopeless sinner
Whose hard on mankind
Just to save his own
Have pity on those
Whose chances are thinner
Cause there's no hiding place
From the Kingdom's Throne
Oh, people get ready
There's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear diesels a-humming
You don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord
Yeah yeah yeah
I'm getting ready
I'm ready yeah yeah yeah
Oh I'm getting ready
I'm ready yeah
09 Oh, Had I a Golden Thread (04:51)
Oh, had I a golden thread
And a needle so fine
I would weave a magic spell
Of a rainbow design
Of a rainbow design
In it I would weave the courage
Of women giving birth
And in it I would weave the innocence
Of the children of all the earth
Children of all the earth
I want to show my brothers and sisters
My rainbow design
Cause I would bind up this sorry world
With hand and heart and mind
Oh, hand and heart and mind
Oh, had I a golden thread
And a needle so fine
I would weave a magic spell
Of a rainbow design
Of a rainbow design
10 Over the Rainbow (04:59)
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
In the land that I heard of once, once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star,
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.
(instrumental)
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow blue birds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow why then, oh why can't I?
If happy little blue birds fly across the rainbow
Why oh why can't I?
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