Her reading could be tougher, but the music behind it - particularly the solo sparring between guitarists Andrew Gold and Waddy Wachtel - has enough bite to overcome the vocal shortcomings. The version of “That’ll Be the Day” included here neither alters my feelings for nor threatens the Buddy Holly original. I’ve always appreciated Ronstadt’s good-natured approach to her remakes of rock ‘n’ roll oldies. And in a few instances it’s as good as anything Ronstadt has done. Worse still, one verse of an immaculately beautiful reggae song, “Rivers of Babylon,” is ruined by being used as a prelude to “Give One Heart.” No amount of sweetening can rescue lyrics as inane as “That’s the paradox of I love you” or “If your baby loves you right/You can have skyrockets any old night.” A rock & roll bridge has been punched up, which only makes things worse by forcing a scream from Ronstadt as she tries to move up the scale. Orleans couldn’t salvage it, nor can Ronstadt. The album’s only other major mistake is John and Johanna Hall’s “Give One Heart,” one of the worst songs - reggae or otherwise - I’ve heard. When she is joined on the chorus by Don Henley (of the Eagles) the impact of the song’s touching and mystifying lyric is completely blunted by the beauty of the harmonizing.įlashback: Stevie Nicks and Other Badass Women Pay Tribute to Linda Ronstadt at the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Here, strings and Andrew Gold’s impersonal piano accompaniment take the song all the way out of the danger zone, and Ronstadt’s carefully articulated, stodgy vocal belies her misunderstanding.
#Hasten down the wind lyrics meaning plus#
In the original version, stinging, venomous guitar lines plus ethereal guitar solos accentuated Zevon’s weary vocal. While it is certainly not in a league with her masterpiece, Heart like a Wheel (and I’m beginning to believe its perfection occurs but once in an artist’s career), Hasten down the Wind is nonetheless representative of Ronstadt redivivus, of Ronstadt, the sensitive, introspective stirring we have admired all these years.Īside from the inclusion of two innocuous songs - “Lo Siento Mi Vida” and Karla Bonoff’s “If He’s Ever Near” - the album’s problems are fairly well exemplified by the totally wrongheaded interpretation of the Warren Zevon-penned title song, which delineates the chilling tale of a lover’s indecisiveness. This is Linda Ronstadt’s tenth album (including the three made with her first group, the Stone Poneys). Think instead of a gifted singer - perhaps our most gifted - who has given us (arguably, I admit) some 40 memorable songs but failed, and miserably so, to connect with much passion on her last album, Prisoner in Disguise.
.jpg "hasten down the wind lyrics meaning")
Thanks for initiating a thought-provoking discussion, Bruce.When I say welcome back, don’t think of John Sebastian’s awful song, or the equally awful television show it introduces. I also love the insight and naked honesty of lines like: "You never knew what I loved in you/I don't know what you loved in me/Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be" (and just about every other line in the song).ĭon't know why, but this song has haunted me for decades. That's the beauty of true poetry: one interpretation doesn't negate, but rather builds upon, other non-mutually-exclusive perspectives. Even with this overly literal interpretation, however, the line still packs abundantly rich metaphorical possibilities (e.g., feelings of: we blew it, we missed out, we overslept, we're stuck on the ground, we've missed an opportunity to really go somewhere, we should've waken up sooner and gotten out of here, etc., etc.). This is purely subjective (nothing in the lyrics suggests that JB intended this literal dream image). Without discounting any of this, the song's last lines ("How long have I been running for that morning flight.late for the sky") have always brought a very literal image to my mind: someone having a stress dream that they're running through an airport for a flight that they're late for (and, presumably, going to miss). I agree with what others have already said regarding the metaphorical significance of the phrase "late for the sky" (heaven, a place to dream and soar, etc.). Through the whispered promises and the changing light How long have I been running for that morning flight If I closed my eyes and tried with all my mightĪwake again I can't pretend and I know I'm alone How long have I been dreaming I could make it right How long have I been drifting alone through the night Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might beĪwake again I can't pretend that I know I'm aloneĪnd close to the end of the feeling we've known
Trying to understand how our lives had led us thereīut I know that they don't mean that muchĬompared with the things that are said when lovers touch And somehow the feeling still wasn't right.Īnd still we continued on through the night.
0 kommentar(er)
