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Rating: Female folk or feminine folk? Hmm, let's see, then... What draws a woman to this genre? Pure preference, family traditions, a certain "intimacy" that the performer/author can reproduce thanks to the genre? Women, as we know, are the moon while we men would be the sun... Does having a passion for handmade things matter? The country decorations for the furniture, the passion for decoupage?
Ok, I'm providing a version of the feminine universe that could lead the competent authority to censor the review and "cut off" something else. While I'm showcasing the most despicable side of my personality, these women use music to bring something credible, true-to-life, played and not sampled; sung, not just pitched; proposed, certainly not imposed through TV.
It's not right to mock female folk, especially when we are continually bombarded by spice girls, atomic kittens, lollipop girls, sugar-sucking girls, sugar dolls, pretty wooden girls, etc. Talking about women and chart music is a bit like presenting a medal: it has two sides, inevitably inseparable. In some decades, one side has been more shining than the other, maybe today the chart-topping pop planned at the drawing board is regularly ahead, but in general, each decade has its worthy representative in both senses. Take the eighties, for example: I know a comparison in sales, celebrity, and media exposure is almost impossible, but those were Madonna's years as much as they were Tracy Chapman's, weren't they?
In the eighties, however, a rather peculiar character emerged: a nineteen-year-old presented on TV in little shows and Festivalbars as if she were just any pop singer because of her beauty, as crystalline as it was austere, perfect for magazine covers worldwide and for opening new dozens of fan clubs. She sang songs certainly difficult for those who went to the Arena di Verona to worship Rick Astley and Nick Kamen, but like them, she held the stage and the onslaught of cameras, and she did it precisely because you couldn't stop looking into those sad and profound black eyes. At that time, she was a living mix between the artistic sensitivity of a folk woman and the superstar ambition of quite other colleagues... A kind of Tracy Chapman as courted as a Samantha Fox...
It is undeniable that Tanita Tikaram, the nineteen-year-old in question, English born in Westphalia, with Indo-Chinese, Indian and Fijian blood in between, at that time had neither the awareness nor the attitude for certain postures and framed in that way, but soon, I imagine, she had to learn the rules of the game, in order to better deal with the trap she had fallen into: success had taken her songs around the world, it's true, but the path they traveled was less than half of that completed by her face. And being a "daughter" of those years, she couldn't help but lose backing and fame, just as everyone else couldn't help but identify her as "that pretty girl... who sang the saddest songs in the world... with that deep voice... remember her?" or, for those in the know, ?the one from "Twist In My Sobriety"?'...
This track, indeed the most famous of her discography, is contained in the debut album "Ancient Heart", dated 1988; it's almost a purely folk record, even Irish in the opener "Good Tradition" (damned eighties keyboards: they are everywhere!), of adolescent innocence married to an almost existentialist awareness. And "Twist In My Sobriety", one of those tracks I remember most fondly from that decade, is, in my opinion (sans d'émuler aucune), pure existentialism, song dramaturgy. Contributing significantly to this is Tanita's voice, almost masculine like Chapman's, deep even if not low, differing from the American's because it's stylistically and technically inferior (to the limits of bad, I would say) but with something indescribably more seductive, elevated, and sensual.
If in the excellent "Cathedral Song" this voice is authentically that of a brother, it works well in the tiptoeing blues of "He Likes The Sun" or the dreamy "Valentine Heart", in the more joyful tracks it "weighs down the lightness" (a bit like when I read a sign on the freeway indicating "slow down speed"), causes half-smiles to fall, and flattens the electrocardiogram. It's suggestive to hear her uncertain between the jazz winds in a venue with too much echo in "For All Those Years", while it becomes a little annoying when, inevitably, with that deep voice she has, it cools the last track, the heartfelt "Preyed Upon".
Further mention for the lyrics: find me a teenager in 1988 who, when thinking of writing a song, considers putting this level of writing into it.
Tanita was a somewhat singular phenomenon, for common pop charts, despite her beauty we all noticed it a bit, didn't we? She quickly returned to the penumbra of singer-songwriter territory, but contributing factors were also records not up to this. Her eyes continue to shine black even today, and her voice (improved) was recorded until 2002, but this time it's up to us to go find them; it's no longer time (for a while), for her, of successes/commoditization...
An ancient heart, one might say, that of Tanita; therefore not at ease in a too modern world like that of the charts.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Good Tradition (02:52)
There's a good tradition of love and hate staying by the fireside
There's a good tradition of love and hate staying by the fireside
And though the rain may fall - your father's calling you
You still feel safe inside
And though your ma's too proud - your brother's ignoring you
You still feel safe inside
Oh, was this solo?
Was this yesterday?
Was this true for you?
'Cos while all the rest have taken time
This didn't do a lot for you
And the corners laced with memories
Tell you how it used to be
Your mother smiles, the children play, and all the bad things happen miles away
And strong feelings never bother you
You hold your head up while the rest of us try to
Oh, call the stations
Call the people
We all want to know
'Cos while all the rest have taken time
You don't wanna know
Well, there's a good tradition of love and hate staying by the fireside
There's a good tradition of love and hate staying by the fireside
And though the rain may fall - your father's calling you
You still feel safe inside
And though your ma's too proud - your brother's ignoring you
You still feel safe inside
Oh, was this solo?
Was this yesterday?
Was this true for you?
'Cos of all the choices you have made
This didn't do a lot for you
02 Cathedral Song (02:53)
I saw you from the cathedral
You were watching me
Yes I saw from the cathedral
What I should be
So take my time
And take my lies
'Cos all the others, they want to take my life
And I watch you with an intent, basic
It's the same for you
You hold your hand
And it's all fine - laced and
What would you make me do?
So take my time
And take my lies
'Cos all the others, they want to take my life
Serious for the winter time
To wrench my soul
whole cotton, whole cotton ears
But I know there must be
I know there must be, yes, I know there must be a place to go
And you saw me from the cathedral
Well I'm an ancient heart
Yes, you saw me from the cathedral
Well here we are just falling apart
You catch me
I'm tired
I want all that you are
And I saw you from the cathedral
You were leaving me
Yes I saw from the cathedral
You could not see to see
So take my time
And take my lies
'Cos all the others, they want to take my life
05 World Outside Your Window (04:54)
Everyone has said that I might go
'Cos my red suitcase and my ray-bans
Weren't quite so
I'd bear the heavy wind and rain that falls
I'll never come back again
'Cos you know I laugh when winter shows her hand
Well, that picture framed the saddest thing you'll see
But it bought me time and a place that love could be
And since I'm going now please rearrange
'Cos I'd like to think that things have changed
I don't believe you'll be open anymore
Tell me if, you want to see
A world outside your window
A world outside your window isn't free
And tell me if you wanna catch that feeling of redemption
That feeling of redemption doesn't do much for me
Well, everyone was hoping you would stay a while
Tell us 'bout that great land in the south
I see that man - now ain't he under offer?
I tell you child you go wash out your mouth
Tell me if, you want to see
A world outside your window
A world outside your window isn't free
And tell me if you wanna catch that feeling of redemption
That feeling of redemption doesn't do much for me
What can you say
I'm hiding in the belfry
What can you say - I want to catch time
How can you say you know anything about me
Well I knew about you - but I won't care about you
Everyone has come to see. Well somethings have to do
Flowers out for this photographic haunt, but they all pass me by
But the age is not a funny game, it don't give such a buzz
And when I winced with ignorance
I had to kiss this dust
07 Twist in My Sobriety (04:51)
All God's children need travelling shoes
Drive your problems from here
All good people read good books
Now your conscience is clear
I hear you talk girl
Now your conscience is clear
In the morning when I wipe my brow
Wipe the miles away
I like to think I can be so willed
And never do what you say
I'll never hear you
And never do what you say
Look my eyes are just holograms
Look your love has drawn red from my hands
From my hands you know you'll never be
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
We've just poked a little empty pie
For the fun that people had at night
Late at night don't need hostility
The timid smile and pause to free
I don't care about their different thoughts
Different thoughts are good for me
Up in arms and chaste and whole
All God's children took their toll
Look my eyes are just holograms
Look your love has drawn red from my hands
From my hands you know you'll never be
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
Cup of tea, takes time to think, yeah
Time to risk a life, a life, a life
Sweet and handsome
Soft and porky
You pig out 'til you've seen the light
Pig out 'til you've seen the light
Half the people read the papers
Read them good and well
Pretty people, nervous people
People have got to sell
News you have to sell
Look my eyes are just holograms
Look your love has drawn red from my hands
From my hands you know you'll never be
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
More than twist in my sobriety
09 He Likes the Sun (05:28)
Some say the world goes crazy
It's summertime
I say I'm feeling lazy
Hammocks in mind
And I can't change a thing
So I won't stay around
If you can still feel so hot
Why don't you feel for me?
If you can feel so much
Why don't you let it out
And let me be alone again
I keep watch. That's alright
'Cos it comes in this real night
He likes the sun
See the cornered clown
He likes the sun
Let us waste this town
And when it rains
You feel the click in his heart
And that's when the pain in mine will start
And that's when the pain in mine will start
I'm used to growing older
and feeling down inside
But yes, I know, well someone told
You should have seen him cry
Well that's not my life
I'm tired of chip inside and playing bronze for cool
Y'know that sometimes light
And sometimes you can just be that fool
Who can really say?
If I'm cross - it's a joke
if I'm lost - let it go up in smoke
He likes the sun
See the cornered clown
He likes the sun
Let us waste this town
And when it rains
You feel the click in his heart
And that's when the pain in mine will start
And that's when the pain in mine will start
Jump right out of your grass colours
And make like you were easy prey
and cheer us solemn of a possible
Is it possible?
I could really play could really play
All these things I say
Though not torn inside, though not torn
You just lie, lie low - lie low for me
I'm not in deeper waters - where everyone will claim
We used to know the daughter - throw it away it's such a shame
If you're feeling blue
And like icy looks and great command
He likes the way I'm true
But I know inside
This is a real life sham - but that's okay
And this song can't be sued
I assume - you get up and renew yourself
He likes the sun
See the cornered clown
He likes the sun
Let us waste this town
And when it rains
You feel the click in his heart
And that's when the pain in mine will start
And that's when the pain in mine will start
10 Valentine Heart (04:06)
If I was a Londoner, rich with complaint
Would you take me back to your house
Which is sainted with lust and the listless shade
If I could have held you once more with that light
It's nothing to you, but it keeps me alive
Like a Valentine's Day, it's a Valentine's heart, anyway
The king and the ages, they fall by the plan
It's always the tired and the ordinary man
(It's the) challenge it's funny and such
I want to see you again
I want to see you again
It's so simple and plain
But I'll come back and see you again
The lie is the angel, it doesn't exist
I tell you it's funny but you like just to twist all my words
It's a shame you're so young
My word, it's a shame I'm so dumb
I figure a house with the smoke and the fence
The people round here would be pleased
Take my word on this
I would believe just in you, just believe in you
And five days to catch me around with my ring
As I visit the friendships which meant everything to the girl
With the clown's face, to the girl with the clowns face, round here
11 Preyed Upon (05:04)
When your life has all been token
And your stance is akin to broken hearts
You've grown weary - I'm not weary
I can take your part
It's eye-open time, sailor
When they want you to pretend
You were inside that playground
You may be old - but not so old
That I can't see
See your old freinds and it's as fresh as dew
But see what's new and it's all the same to you
Now I'm not choosy and I'm just half grown
I took the old man - I gave the old man
I took the old man back home
Safe with us to serenade
To hang around your black scarf and black ways
I have "no idea" he said, "no idea of what I'll do"
And talking less - it chases home
It chases dreams - but I have really no reason, no goal and so
If you "wanna" play real basic
If you "wanna" help us make it
Don't forget you're alone
Unless it's all alone
Don't forget you're alone
Unless it's all alone
You get preyed upon
Ohh oh
I need to complicate you
To make you hate the things you might have done
And come out into the morning
It's the sun you want
Not the foreign time
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