Though it may be something of an anticlimax after those Birchmere reports, I've finally got time to report on RT's visit to the Rhode Island School of Design last Friday. I managed to arrive about halfway through RT's lecture/Q&A session in the late afternoon. To be perfectly honest, it wasn't all that interesting. RT seemed to have decided to teach the audience a complete history of "popular music" for the last 1000 years, which necessarily meant that the treatment had to be shallow. (Having just come from teaching a class myself, I was all too cognizant of the dangers of trying to cover too much too quickly.) A good number of times he mentioned as touchstones certain composers and performers that I suspect many in the audience were unfamiliar with, such as Palestrina and John Dowland, both of whom I've heard of, but neither of whom I can remember hearing. (I know, I know - I'm a philistine.) He only picked up his guitar once that I remember, to show how "Greensleeves" was derived from an Italian tune (he said that while Henry VIII may have claimed authorship, at best he was responsible for the lyrics - but being king, he could get away with claiming anything he wanted), and to show how Italian chord sequences had made their way into Scottish and English music. He illustrated the latter by trying to play a few Morris tunes, but he clearly wasn't well practiced in them and stumbled a bit.
Near the end, he did a Q&A, but this largely consisted of two things: One, RT would pose a question to the audience, but one so broad that it was unlikely to elicit interesting responses, e.g., "Where do you think popular music is heading?" And two, someone in the audience would ask RT a question, to which he gave a diffident response. One woman asked how he felt about cover versions of his songs. He replied more or less as follows: "I think Joni Mitchell once said your songs are like your children. You raise them, send them out in the world, and they come back to you swearing and smoking and doing all kinds of things you taught them not to do" - which I admit was pretty funny. But the meat of his answer was that sometimes the covers are good, he likes them best when they do something different with his song or find something in it he didn't know was there, and sometimes the covers are bad. But he didn't cite any particular examples. After that, I said, "Since you seem willing to entertain questions about your own songs...," to which RT said "Reluctantly." I continued, saying, something like "It's OK, this one is actually kind of connected [to the 1000 years theme]: Do you feel that doing the '1000 Years' shows has affected your own songwriting? For example, the first time I heard 'Destiny,' I thought, '_That's_ poppier than usual [RT said, "Poppier? Really?" - I think he was pleased] and 'One Door Opens' has something of what I think is a Medieval or Renaissance dance feel." But RT's answer to my question was that he's been listening to all this different music for a long time, so he didn't see that doing the '1000 Years' shows had had any influence. That may well have been true (at least from his perspective), but wasn't very enlightening. (Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned ODO, since that is more like material he's done in the past.)
But enough growsing: The actual performance, later in the evening, was a delight. My fears that it would be hard to scare up a good audience at an art school on Halloween (pun intended) proved unfounded, though there appeared to be relatively few students there. I imagine most of the crowd was faculty and staff. (As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only way to get tickets to the show was by having a RISD ID; fortunately a friend of mine who works at the RISD Museum was able to get me and a couple of friends tickets.) There was no Debra Dobkin or Judith Owen, so it was interesting to see how RT adjusted the show for solo performance. The following is an annotated rough set list, written down from memory after the show - some of it is certainly out of order:
Summer Is Acumen In
KIng Henry V's Conquest of France
So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo - This was the first time (this was my third "1000 Years" show) I'd heard RT introduce SBMCBT with a translation of the title lyric that includes the phrase "good time." I'd wondered how, even in "colloquial Medieval Italian," "bon tempo" could translate as any of the words in "I know a lucky fellow."
Full Fathom Five - RT's harmonic setting of a melody line he'd found for these verses from "The Tempest." I'd really loved this when RT had done this at Joe's Pub, and was glad to hear it again, though a little disappointed that the echo effect was laid on so thick.
The Cruel Mother(?) - a devastatingly beautiful ballad about a devastating story. A young mother gives birth to two children (I'd guess out of wedlock) out in the forest, and after suckling them, slits their throats. Years later, gazing out from her father's house, she sees two beautiful children at play. She says to them, If you were my children, I'd dress you in silks, etc. They say back, We are your children, you killed us, and now we're in Heaven - and _you're_ going to Hell. A little web research suggests that this is a variant of the Child Ballad "The Twa Sisters," though it doesn't exactly match any of the versions I found at http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ballads/balladtexts/10_TwaSisters.html. (Is this also the basis for Pentangle's "Cruel Sister," which I've never heard?) Version B, however, includes the most notable feature of RT's performance, the somewhat inexplicable repeated use of the three Scottish cities of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Saint Johnston as interjections between the narrative lyrics. In any case, I loved this one - the highlight of the night for me.
The Silver Swan - A late Medieval(?) composition (based on a traditional song?) by Orlando Gibbons, about a person who has kept silent (about her opinions of others? about scandalous secrets? I'm not sure) all her life, but dying, at last, lets it rip, so to speak. Related to the phrase "swan song." A version is at http://www.musicaviva.com/ensemble/choir/music.tpl?filnavn=gibbons-silver-swan.
Celia(?) - Another song of roughly the same vintage, but all I can remember is that it was addressed to a woman named Celia.
Banks of the Nile
Shenandoah - My friend Paul thought RT had a cold that was preventing him from giving full throat to this song, but I think I preferred this (only slightly) more restrained version. The way I've heard RT do it before (as recorded on the "1000 Years" CD) struck me as a little histrionic for a work/folk song.
Blackleg Miner
Trafalgar Square
Why Have My Loved Ones Gone?
The Pirate King - from "The Pirates of Penzance." I'd wondered how RT would handle the Gilbert & Sullivan portion of the show in Judith's absence. This was the answer. It was great fun, and yes, RT held one note for a long time, as in "There Is Beauty."
Old Rocking Chair's Got Me
Cry Me a River - Yep, RT did this one in Judith's stead. Not bad, but I liked her singing of it better, hand movements and all.
(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle - Hank Williams. Did he do this at past "1000 Years" shows? I think so, but can't remember.
The Fool - This has become one of my favorites from the show.
A Legal Matter
Tempted
Oops I Did It Again! - The RISD students in the audience clearly got a kick out of this one.
Encores:
Sam Hall - RT didn't introduce the song, so though the audience quickly picked up on the fact that they were supposed to repeat the ends of lines, they didn't get that they were supposed to boo and hiss rather than repeat when RT sang "Well blast your eyes!" - which left those few of us who were booing and hissing feeling rather silly.
Money - which RT introduced as being about "why I'm really in the music business."
It Won't Be Long - Does anyone besides me feel that RT could choose a better Beatles cover? Between the lack of precision in the "Yeah"s (rendered this time by the audience) and the absence of John/Paul-style harmonizing on "Till I belong to you" (even if Judith's present - I've yet to see Debra), this just pales in comparison to the original.
And somewhere in the encore RT did a bit of "Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt."
All in all, a splendid time, marred for me only by the absence of "Kiss." The audience clearly enjoyed the show, and I wonder how many converts were made. (I also wonder how many of the converts will still like RT when they encounter his own material.)
- Jesse
Jesse Hochstadt [ Jesse_Hochstadt@brown.edu
]
Tue 11/4/2003 6:16 PM
Setlist for the second "chronological evening" at the Birchmere was very similar to that of the first evening, with some choice variations. The names of the first two songs have been confirmed.
Watch Me Go
Boys of Mutton Street
Jack O'Diamonds
Meet on the Ledge
Poor Ditching Boy
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Great Valerio
Hokey Pokey
I'll Regret It All in the Morning
For Shame of Doing Wrong
Instrumental (Choice Wife or Banish Misfortune?)
Devonside
I Feel So Good
Persuasion
Crawl Back
Dry My Tears and Move On
VBL52
First encore
Gethsemane
One Door Opens (by request)
A Love You Can't Survive
Second Encore
Oops, I Did It Again (by request)
Alexander Graham Bell
Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen
A bit less banter this night----still a powerful show.
Scott
Scott Miller [ smiller@aaas.org ]
Wed 11/5/2003 10:22 AM
I'm not certain that the intensity of a Richard Thompson concert experience varies directly with seating distance, but I'm having troubling thinking of counter-examples from my own experience. In any event, after last night's show, which fulfilled all the expectations engendered by the previous night's posts, I'm very grateful to have Obsessive Friends With Flexible Schedules.
Seated so close you really get your finger on the pulse of the show, noticing RT's little smiles and grimaces and almost having to breathe along with him throughout. His joy in performing is so evident, and viewed from up close an RT show of this caliber is an astonishingly physical experience. Here is the Fully Inhabited Man, folks.
I'm somewhat given to 'welling up' during particularly powerful or affecting vocal performances... I don't know why. This had never happened to me at a Richard Thompson show until last night, particularly during Bright Lights and Valerio. It seemed to me that "Valerio" got the weakest applause of the night, but I think that was because all the oxygen had gone out of the room.
I had occasion, on the Joe Henry list the other day, when discussion turned to performers "as cool as Joe," to refer to RT as a 'miracle.' I'm not going to contradict myself about that anytime soon.
Steve
...by the way, Ms. Kat: I think a mere divorce hearing is a pretty feeble excuse to miss an RT show, particularly when you've been promised your own song for the occasion! I went to the Mary Lou Lord show (already discussed on these pages, just a bit before you signed on) after my own hearing a week or so ago and it made me feel like the most stable person in the place (my tablemates excepted, of course).
Steve Garrison [ steveg@toad.net ]
Wed 11/5/2003 10:36 AM
Thanks, Jesse, for the detailed post (always a pleasure to read you, sir).
A couple comments on your comments:
>The Cruel Mother(?) - a devastatingly beautiful ballad about a devastating story. A young mother gives birth to two children (I'd guess out of wedlock) out in the forest, and after suckling them, slits their throats. <snip>....Version B, however, includes the most notable feature of RT's performance, the somewhat inexplicable repeated use of the three Scottish cities of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Saint Johnston as interjections between the narrative lyrics. In any case, I loved this one - the highlight of the night for me.
Fabulous song. I woke up with it in mind the next day. After the Friday Chicago show, I asked RT about the inexplicable refrains--I wanted to know what the significance of the town names would be? He didnt really have an answer at first ...his first try sounded alot like "because that's the way it is". But then he suggested that they migrated in or were vestiges of other songs and offered: "it's very common in the Cruel Mother songs." (He seemed preoccupied and wrung out, which was no surprise after the exhilarating show he'd just put on...but this weariness wasn't apparent until he started talking, and then I felt bad about getting in his face. He was ever gracious though. What a guy.)
>>(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle - Hank Williams. Did he do this at past "1000 Years" shows? I think so, but can't remember.
Yes, he did. I love that song, and he did a fine mournful job of it. (Even *more* poignant was Thursday night's rendition of Why Have My Loved Ones Gone? Really sweet tones in his voice.)
>>It Won't Be Long - Does anyone besides me feel that RT could choose a better Beatles cover? Between the lack of precision in the "Yeah"s (rendered this time by the audience) and the absence of John/Paul-style harmonizing on "Till I belong to you" (even if Judith's present - I've yet to see Debra), this just pales in comparison to the original.
I and thought so last year at the New York shows but it's *really* good with Judith AND Debra D doing harmony.
I can imagine it to be a lot less compelling without those harmonies.
>>And somewhere in the encore RT did a bit of "Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt."
Ooh yeh! I think I forgot to include that in the setlist I posted for Chicago's Friday show. He and Debra did it, looking at each other, at the very end.
Louise
Louise M. [ lemolnar@mindspring.com
]
Wed 11/5/2003 12:36 PM
No, the cruel mother (or Greenwoodside or any other title that the ballad wears) is not derived from the cruel sister, which is a radically different ballad on jealousy between two sisters.
Olivier
The Cruel Mother(?) - a devastatingly beautiful ballad about a devastating story. A young mother gives birth to two children (I'd guess out of wedlock) out in the forest, and after suckling them, slits their throats. Years later, gazing out from her father's house, she sees two beautiful children at play. She says to them, If you were my children, I'd dress you in silks, etc. They say back, We are your children, you killed us, and now we're in Heaven - and _you're_ going to Hell. A little web research suggests that this is a variant of the Child Ballad "The Twa Sisters," though it doesn't exactly match any of the versions I found at http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ballads/balladtexts/10_TwaSisters.html. (Is this also the basis for Pentangle's "Cruel Sister," which I've never heard?) Version B, however, includes the most notable feature of RT's performance, the somewhat inexplicable repeated use of the three Scottish cities of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Saint Johnston as interjections between the narrative lyrics. In any case, I loved this one - the highlight of the night for me.
Olivier.Le-Dour@cec.eu.int
Wed 11/5/2003 12:51 PM
Last night onstage at the Birchmere, RT said that his new opening song, "Watch Me Go," was about "growing up, leaving school and feeling that explosion of energy." It's very high-spirited, like its followup song both nights, "The Boys of Mutton Street." "Let joy beat out old misery," RT sings in "Watch Me Go," as well as "So all who choose the twisty road prefer it to the straight." The chorus goes something like:
"Watch me go into the wild blue
Watch me go, I'm a human cannon ball. . . . . . . . . . .
And I'll keep shouting til they lay me low."
We had a chance to study several pages of RT's crib sheets after the show, as Pam was guarding them for ST, but they weren't much help with getting the new lyrics. They mostly consisted of key words to the songs, so they looked somewhat like code. RT certainly had a lot of youthful energy last night as he relived the days of his youth----sounded like exclamation marks in "Watch Me Go!"
Scott
"So friends and old acquaintances, I'll be writing very soon."-----from "Watch Me Go"
Scott Miller [ smiller@aaas.org ]
Wed 11/5/2003 6:52 PM
Monday night at the Birchmere, toward the end of the show and after dismissing a request for "Season of the Witch" from what he termed "you retro-people," OH faced shouts for songs like "Killing Jar," "Push and Shove," "Purple Haze" and "Whipping Post." He paused to consider the last: "I've never heard that one. I lost touch in the 70s---I was a bit out there, and a lot passed me by. I've heard that it's pretty exciting---is it total guitar wankery?"
To the inevitable followup request for "Free Bird," OH responded, "I'm so glad those people don't have a chip on their shoulder about who won the Civil War!" He then soldiered on with "a song from my newest album, which has a few million copies left in the warehouse. We tried a big marketing push in Germany, but there was a problem with the reference to a song from World War I . This is a song about people like Ted Nugent who sleep inside of sheepskins, fundamentalist, Swaggart-y people, like your man Jim." To the ensuing cries of protest, RT said, "It's almost the South here, isn't it? Which side were you on in the Civil War?" (The Birchmere is in Alexandria, in the state of Virginia, which hosted the capital of the Confederacy.) Then he played "Outside of the Inside."
Tuesday night, after RT sang "Bright Lights," there was a request for "Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair," to which he responded, "Sorry, I don't remember the words. I'd embarrass myself and possibly you---actually, I'd have to bring you up onstage and embarrass you with me. But I'll learn it for next time---it is a classic. The 70s, they were an idealistic time, but it's all vaporized now." He then proceeded to a version of "The Great Valerio" that, as Steve reported, seemed to suck all the air out of the room. You could feel everyone concentrating intensely on that haunting, intimate instrumental coda at the end.
For a number of the songs, RT had to look down at his crib sheets. Tuesday, after "Valerio." he explained, "If you see me do this [slouches], it's kind of an emotional thing." Someone shouted, "Got it in the war, did you?" RT: "Yes, I did get in the war---but I wonder, which war was it? Let's see, it must have been in the war for truth and freedom and justice!" Closest he came to referring to the current political situation all night.
Then he launched into a rollicking, exhilarating version of "Hokey Pokey" with some funny new lyrics, which left me wondering again why this song wasn't a massive hit back when he recorded it with Linda. But even solo, with his full vocal and ringing guitar work, RT sounded like a whole band on it.
Scott
"Dreaming of a home on the range......
Love behind bars is strange.
"Lick it on the top. lick it on the bottom......
Open it wide, see the drips on the side
You want to catch all that good stuff.
"She shook her hips when he kissed her on the lips
Hokey pokey made her feel all right."-----fragments of new lyrics for "Hokey Pokey"
Scott Miller [ smiller@aaas.org ]
Thu 11/6/2003 7:15 PM
And another year of Richard Thompson music draws to an end.
I wish you a better and prosperous new year.
Willis Howard
January 1, 2004