Some Day We'll Evaporate Together

There may not be much difference

Between Chairman Mao and Richard Nixon

If we strip them naked

There may not be much difference

Between Marilyn Monroe and Lenny Bruce

If we check their coffins

There may not be much difference

Between White House and Hall of People

If we count their windows

There may not be much difference

Between Raquel Welch and Jerry Rubin

If we hear their heartbeat

We're all water from different rivers

That's why it's so easy to meet

We're all water in this vast, vast ocean

Someday we'll evaporate together

There may not be much difference

Between Eldrige Cleaver and Queen of England

If we bottle their tears

There may not be much difference

Between Manson and the Pope

If we press their smile

There may not be much difference

Between Rockefeller and you

If we hear you sing

There may not be much difference

Between you and me

If we show our dreams

We're all water from different rivers

That's why it's so easy to meet

We're all water in this vast, vast ocean

Someday we'll evaporate together

What's the difference?

Song #37: Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band - We're All Water

The High (And Low) Priestess of Soul

Nina Simone never liked to be categorized, so I wont do too much of that, but I will say she is one of the most authentic artists and overall public figures of the 1900's (except for her name, ahem Eunice Kathleen Waymon ahem). The lasting legacy of Nina Simone seems to be intertwined with her volatile attitude both on and off the stage. One of her most adored qualities was her ability to drift from an upbeat, happy number, into a slower, more soulful, melancholy one. Also, as black woman during the Civil Rights period, she was labeled as short tempered, aggressive and difficult to work with, but Good Lord, could she sing.

It was not until after her exile in France (evading a US Tax Charge) and her death in 2003 that it was revealed that she had been in a lifelong struggle with Bipolar Disorder. It is interesting to hear a condition referred to as a Psychological Ailment on one hand, and one of her most attractive performance qualities but in the other. Its almost as if every album is a standoff between Mania and Depression, but then isn't that what art, in it's most basic sense, really is?

While her high energy, lengthy renditions of her classics like, "Sinnerman" and "Mississippi Goddamn" help you bob your head on the subway, her ballads such as "Four Women" and "Ne Me Quitte Pas" contain such a painful longing that keeps you a Nina fan for the rest of your life. What kind of person would I be if I didn't include one example of both. Here she is performing in Berlin in 1967 wearing some sort of Clothes Hamper, and directly below it, a studio version of one of her most sultry songs, off her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings The Blues.

Stick around for the conclusion of Ladies Week this weekend. May we all have a little sugar in our respective utensils by then.

Song #36: Nina Simone - What You Gonna Do


Bonus Song!: Nina Simone - I Want a Little Sugar In My Bowl

Peaks and Troughs

A little gem of wisdom from Ricky Gervais, star and creator of The Original The Office, from the BBC.



She's not, in fact she's one of our country's national treasures, but it does segue us nicely into today's song...

Song #36: Dolly Parton - Jolene

The First Hippie Pinup Chick

In college I took a class called The History of American Popular Music. From the second I looked at the syllabus, I knew it was going to be unlike any other. Instead of  being divided up into sections like, The Cell Membrane, or The Golden Age of the Mongolian Empire, it had sections about Robert Johnson, Tupac Shakur and today's subject. My amazing Professor, Dr. Barry Shank, proceeded to blow my mind, twice a week for an entire OSU trimester with the stories behind the Musical trends that shaped American Society.  Look out for his new book, tentatively called Silence, Noise, Beauty: The Political Agency of Music. It wont be out for over a year, but I will definitely be keeping an eye (and an ear) out for it.

Anyway, continuing with our week long celebration of the Ladies here at Every Day, Another Song, today I take a crack at one of America's Eternal Music Icons.

Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin grew up in a very rigid, small town in Texas where she felt that nobody understood her. Maybe it was that rough experience that gave her voice its remarkable grit and bluesy ethos. As soon as she had the chance, she moved up to Austin to attend the University of Texas, where she felt she could find some like-minded people among the 20,000 students. She was wrong. In 1963, a UT Fraternity ran a campaign that successfully had Janis voted the "Ugliest Man on Campus." She promptly hitchhiked to San Francisco where her legend was born.

This was her car, a Porsche 356 Convertible that looks like it was painted by the Electric Mayhem.

In a way, Janis' musical legacy is cut into 3 different parts. First, as the lead singer of Big Brother and The Holding Company, she stole the show from performers like Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding at The Monterrey Pop Festival, and before long she was a figurehead for the hippie counterculture of the time. By Woodstock, only a few years later, she had outgrown the Psych-Rock sounds of Big Brother and was performing with the Kozmic Blues Band, a more Soul influenced outfit reminiscent of the Hornier (Ha) Stax R&B records of the time. Her performance at Woodstock was noticeably impaired by various substances and she later left Kozmic due to creative differences. Her third and final group was her own baby, the Full Tilt Boogie Band, an Organ driven (also Ha) combination of Canadians (The Band?) that received mostly positive reviews. She died of an overdose of unusually strong heroin (apparently 8 of the dealer's other users died that weekend) while recording her only album with Fult Tilt, Pearl. Released 4 months after her death, it became her most successful album. It showcased her extremely raw and emotional singing style as well as her unique world view and attitude in a timeless light. Not saying it's better than any of her other works, in fact I rather like her work with Big Brother and Kozmic Blues, but my absolute favorite Janis track comes off her posthumous release. Sadly, it serves as a foreshadowing anthem to her (and all) overindulgence. If you are still looking to learn more about Janis Joplin, read the best biography written about her, Scars of Sweet Paradise.

Song #35: Janis Joplin - Get It While You Can