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Rating: Let's be clear. Within a year, Van Morrison would release his second album, the monumental "Astral Weeks." But here? I still can't wrap my head around it. Not bad, but ever since then, I just can't think about it.
I entered the usual place. Ordered the usual two beers and enjoyed the usual concert by an obscure local band, the "Jazzmasters." But that band, at least that one, wasn't the usual bunch of scoundrels that usually enlivened the place. They performed a handful of covers and only a few of their own songs. Among the covers, one of "Brown Eyed Girl" by good old Van the Man. Actually, more than a cover, it was a real reinterpretation in a noise key. No objections there. A wall of feedback that would have made both Jesus and Maria Catena turn pale; a solo guitar interlude that would have instead embarrassed the late Bo Diddley (for one reason or another, not often you see old Bo blush) and then the evocative voice of Laura, that's what the quintet's leader was called, whose timbre recalled another late great, Eva Cassidy. In short, it was truly crafted with skill and genius, enough to make me want to rediscover the album it originally belonged to.
The concert ended - which in all serenity, in hindsight, I could call the highlight of a great day, if not for the fact it was a typical shitty day, thus the peak of a great shitty day -, I set off on foot towards home, crossing the city and its decay, encountering first an attempted mugging on an attractive blonde and then the completely drunk milkman from my neighborhood who could only ask me if I knew how long until the sun would rise. "I have no idea, man. You can't make heads or tails of anything anymore," I replied as I continued down the usual road. Then even a friend. We engaged in discussing the evolution of his life and the devolution of mine.
I got home at the usual five in the morning. Between a cigarette and some nonsense, the usual time had come. Everything was so predictable once.
I wasn't sleepy. As usual. But that version of "Brown Eyed Girl" immediately came to mind again. I rushed to search for "Blowin' Your Mind!" (Bang Records, 1962) in the last row of records on the shelf, which I had nicknamed the "forgotten zone." I searched for a long time. The dust covering that almost entirely abandoned section of the shelf offered anything but a helping hand. It certainly took more than five minutes to find it.
Once the initial famous hit "Brown Eyed Girl" started, I almost wished there had been more dust. Even more.
There weren't exactly the agonizing cries of a crime etched into it. I mean, nothing to say. Pleasant and all. His voice, his timbre, although not yet fully mature, were already leaving their mark. The rhythm and blues, while nothing extraordinary, was performed excellently, except for a few irreverent twists that hinted at the young man's genius compositional ambition with the peculiar authority of a vehement vocal presence. But there was no story. Maybe it just wasn't the night. Fact is, it lasted about ten minutes in play. More than a rediscovery, it was a disappointment. Probably the same that made me catalogue it in the forgotten zone. Perhaps it was a disappointment for Morrison too. Surely it was published against his will, inadvertently causing quite a few problems.
So I was once again prey to insomnia. Abandoned and inconclusive. I realized then that perhaps that record could be the only thing to help me in the fight against insomnia. It could heal me, provided I resigned to the idea that I had lost that day.
I took it out of the sleeve and played it a second time, now as the vanquished. In a day that smelled rotten, which I knew by heart and where everything always stayed the same, I decided to wallow in the already-heard sound of a record that played much like my day that had passed.
I truly felt at home. The usual home, the usual things. The usual music. Nothing new. I thought that in the end, if I ever became a skilled reviewer and had to rate that record, for completeness, I'd give it a good score; if I expected more, I would have relatively martyred it. But if I never became a reviewer, well, I would never have rated it.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Brown Eyed Girl (03:06)
Hey where did we go?
The days when the rains came
Down in the hollow, playing a new game
Laughing and a running hey, hey!
Skipping and a jumping
In the misty morning fog with
Our hearts a thumpin' and you
My brown eyed girl
You, my brown eyed girl
Whatever happened to Tuesday and so slow?
Going down the old mine with a transistor radio
Standing in the sunlight laughing
Hiding behind a rainbow's wall
Slipping and sliding, all along the waterfall, with you
My brown eyed girl
You, my brown eyed girl
Do you remember when we used to sing?
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
Just like that
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
La te da
So hard to find my way, now that I'm all on my own
I saw you just the other day, my, you have grown!
Cast my memory back there, Lord
Sometimes I'm overcome thinking about
Making love in the green grass, behind the stadium with you
My brown eyed girl
You, my brown eyed girl
Do you remember when we used to sing?
Sha la la la la la la la la la la de da
Sha la la la la la la la la la la de da
Sha la la la la la la la la la la de da
03 T.B. Sheets (09:48)
Now listen, Julie baby,
it ain't natural for you to cry in the midnight.
It ain't natural for you to cry way into midnight through,
Until the wee small hours long 'fore the break of dawn,
Oh Lord, huh uh ha. Ha.
Now Julie, an' there ain't nothin' on my mind
More further 'way than what you're lookin' for.
I see the way you jumped at me, Lord, from behind the door
And looked into my eyes.
Your a little star struck innuendos
Inadequacies an' foreign bodies,
And the sunlight shining through the crack in the window pane
Numbs my brain,
And the sunlight shining through the crack in the window pane
Numbs my brain, oh Lord.
Ha, so open up the window and let me breathe.
I said open up the window, shh shh shh shh shh and let me breathe.
I'm looking down to the street below, Lord, I cried for you,
Ha ha, I cried, I cried for you, ha ha. Oh, Lord.
The cool room, Lord is a fool's room.
The cool room, Lord is a fool's room.
And I can almost smell your T.B. sheets
And I can almost smell your T.B. sheets
On your sick bed.
I gotta go, I gotta go
And you said, "Please stay, I wanna, I wanna,
I want a drink of water, I want a drink of water,
Go in the kitchen get me a drink of water."
I said, "I gotta go, I gotta go, baby."
I said, "I'll send, I'll send somebody around here later.
You know we got John comin' around here later
With a bottle of wine for you, baby - but I gotta go."
The cool room, Lord is a fool's room,
The cool room, Lord, Lord is a fool's room, a fool's room.
And I can almost smell your T.B. sheets,
I can almost smell your T.B. sheets, T.B.
I gotta go, I gotta go.
I'll send around, send around one that grumbles later on, babe.
We'll see what I can pick up for you, you know.
Yeah, I got a few things gotta do.
Don't worry about it, don't worry about it, don't worry.
Huh uh, go, go, go, I've gotta go, gotta go, gotta go, gotta go,
Gotta go, gotta go, huh uh, all right, all right, huh huh huh.
I turned on the radio,
If you wanna hear a few tunes, I'll turn on the radio for you.
There you go, there you go, there you go, baby, there you go, huh.
You'll be all right, too, huh huh, ha ha, yeah.
I know it ain't funny, it ain't runny at all, baby,
Always laying in the cool room, man, laying in the cool room,
In the cool room, in the cool room.
04 Spanish Rose (03:09)
The wine beneath the bed
The things we've done and said
And all the mem'ries
That come glancing back to me
In my loneliness
You're standing in the bridge
Beyond that stretch but our love reach
An consciousness has found me sometimes wondering
Where you're at
Umm, take me back again
Take me back one more time, Spanish rose
The way ya pulled the gate
Behind you when you said, "It ain't too late
Come on, let's swing the town and have a
Ball tonight
Yeah, hopin' you'd come through
And many others, too
And all the friends we used to have in days gone by
I'm wondering
If you'll take me back again
Take me back one more time, Spanish rose
And when the lights went out there
No one was about
An all the country in full bloom
In the room we danced
And many hearts were torn
And when the word went 'round
That ev'rything was wrong
And just couldn't be put right, it
Tore me up, it tore me up, Lord
The way you held a note
The trembling in your throat
That just beginning of your
Wondrous smile
The rising of the water
The winter winds of days gone by
I often ask myself and wonder why
It's gone
Uhm, take me back again
Take me back one more time, Spanish Rose
In slumber you did sleep
The window I did creep
And touch your raven hair
And sang that song
Again to you
You did not even wince
You thought I was the Prince
To come and take you from your misery
And lonely castle wall
Uhm, take me back again
A take me back one more time, Spanish Rose
06 Ro Ro Rosey (03:06)
Ro ro ro ro ro ro ro rosey,
Ro ro ro ro ro ro ro rosey.
You're the apple of my eye,
Ice cream in my cherry pie, pie.
She's just sixteen and she's not yet grown,
She never goes out on her own.
She lives way up on the Avenue of Trees,
Where I chanced to walk in the cool night breeze.
And I, I see her face, her smile, her hair,
I cry, "Oh, uh uh uh uh, uh uh uh uh."
Ro ro ro ro ro ro ro rosey,
Ro ro ro ro ro ro ro rosey.
You're the apple of my eye,
Ice cream in my cherry pie, pie,
Huh uh, huh uh, huh uh.
She came on walking down the avenue and I said,
"Baby, can I come in, baby, can I come in
And love you one more time ?"
She said, "I love you, babe."
I said, "D-d-d-do you, whoa woman, do you,
Do you love me ?"
Ro ro ro ro ro ro ro rosey,
Ro ro ro ro ro ro ro rosey.
You're the apple of my eye,
Ice cream in my cherry pie.
07 Who Drove the Red Sports Car (05:37)
Who drove the red sports car from the mansion
And laid upon the grass in summer time?
And who done me out high time fashion
And made me read between the lines?
And who said, "Follow the mind, it's your only chance,
Sit on your throne, you got to make it on your own, on your own"?
And who said, "Ha, ha, look at you, look at you,
You got jam on your face."
And who did your homework and read your Bible
And signed your name every place ?
And who said, "Fortunes untold lie, don't go by gold,
You're much better known, you got to make it on your own,
On your own." Ah, ah, uh-huh.
And do you remember, do you remember this time,
I said a long time ago when I came walkin' down,
I came walkin' down, ha, by Maggie's place, ha ha ha,
It started comin' on rain, huh, it started comin' on rain,
'Cause I had nothing on but a shirt and a pair of pants
And I was getting wet, I was getting wet, saturated, saturated, baby
And Maggie opened up the window and Jane swung out her right arm,
She said, "Hi!" I said. "Hi, how're you doing, baby?"
She said, "Come on in out the rain, come on in out the rain,
Lord, come on in out the rain, sit down by the fireside,
And dry yourself." Achoo, do it, do it, a-ha ha ha, I got caught,
I got caught An I got, got a bag, got a bag, baby, oh Lord,
I said, "I don't mind if I do, I don't mind if I do." Ha, aah...
Haa, it's a bag
I mean, huh, you know you gotta
You know, you sort-a turn it upside down
Somethin' like, put it on a rack
Fold it n', press it 'n
[Fades]
Call it a record or somethin' like that goin'
You guys have got a sure thing...
08 Midnight Special (03:02)
Well you wake up in the mornin'
When the ding-dong ring (ding 'em man, ding 'em)
Go over to the table
Ya see the same old (damn) thing
Knife n' fork upon the table
And nothin' in my pan
Say anything about it
A-get in trouble with the man
Let the midnight special
Shine a light on me
Let the midnight special
Shine an ever lovin' light on me
If you ever go to Houston
Boy, ya better walk right
You better not stagger
And you better not fight
Or the sheriff gon' arrest you
Lord, and carry you down
And if the jury find your guilty
You're penitentiary bound
But let the midnight special
Shine a light on me
Let the midnight special
Shine an ever lovin' light on me
Let the midnight special (hoo)
Shine a light on me
Let the midnight special
Shine an ever lovin' light on me
Yonder comes Miss Rosie (yeah) (oh yeah)
How in the world do you know? (how do ya know?)
Well, I know her by her apron (oh yeah)
And the dress she wore
Umbrella on her shoulder
Piece a-paper in her hand (yeah)
She's a-gonna tell the (my) Captain
To let loose (release) her man
Let the midnight special
Shine a light on me
Let the midnight special
Shine an ever lovin' light on me
(Me, me, me)
Let the midnight special
Shine a light on me
Well let the midnight special
Shine an ever lovin' light on me
Well I done my time, boy (well, yeah)
Hoot n' holler n' cryin'
Well the man are call me
An I'll be ridin' down the line
But let the midnight special (Lord)
Shine a light on me (yeah)
A-let the midnight special
Shine it's ever lovin' light on me.
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