If

If, by Bread, in my opinion is the greatest love song ever written. Ever.

This simple, no chorus, poetry perces my heart deeper with every time I hear it and I re-listen and sing along several times a week!

I feel like I shouldn't have ever liked this song to begin with. It's a guitar-playing solo sung by a long-haired, hippy-ish stereotype (even caricature of a 70's arts major) who spends his afternoons swooning women under the campus oak trees with his sensitive writings, all with a high voice, using unattractive falsetto notes at time. The combination is nauseating and seems so insincere BUT darn it, I fell for it. I AM that girl sitting under that oak tree (in my bell bottoms and crop top sweater) listening, unblinking, who's become entranced with every word and every note of this man's sensitive and deeply romantic sonnet. I don't take this song as insincere, corny or fake. I don't take this song as a man trying to say whatever sludge comes into his head in attempt to score with chick after chick. I take this song as the epitomy of how a man can love a woman and its exemplar ability to vocalize and describe that love. I find this description of love outrageously perfect in its lyrics, rendition and tone, and overall execution and I am forever enraptured by it.

I cannot think of more lovely and true words I rather hear from my love.
I cannot think of better pros I could ever express to my love.

I am aware I have adopted If's sediments, hopes and expectations. Maybe they aren't realistic or achievable? No, I can't believe its fluff. I know that's why women like me find themselves sitting motionless under that oak tree listening and craving more, because we want these words to not just be words and polite intentions, we want them magnified and fulfilled, making them real and achievable for all. We so badly want to be the complete desire of ONE man's hopes, dreams and eternity. I have faith in this song's potential, these feelings are possible.    

If a picture paints a thousand words,
Then why can't I paint you?
The words will never show the you I've come to know.
If a face could launch a thousand ships,
Then where am I to go? 
There's no one home but you,
You're all that's left me too.
And when my love for life is running dry,
You come and pour yourself on me.

If a man could be two places at one time,
I'd be with you.
Tomorrow and today, beside you all the way.
If the world should stop revolving spinning slowly down to die,
I'd spend the end with you.
And when the world was through,
Then one by one the stars would all go out,
Then you and I would simply fly away.  

The Crisis

"The Crisis" written and performed by Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone is a well-known Italian composer of over 400 films, including: "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", and "Once Upon A Time In America"and has received several Grammies, Oscar nominations and many international awards as well as being Knighted in the Order of the Legion of Honor.

7 Pounds stars Will Smith who plays Ben Thomas, an inconsolable man paralyzed in self-damnation after becoming the lone surviver of an avoidable car accident involving his fiancé and several others he caused. While it becomes heartbreakingly clear Ben's lazer-focused, selfless deeds are changing the lives of those he deems deserving of a second chance, he feels his own life is invalid of redemption.

I like the film. It's concept is thoughtful but it's Will Smith's highly emotional performance that makes the film worth watching. I really enjoy Will Smith as a dramatic actor. He, like Jim Carey and other great physical comedic actors, in my opinion, are far more gifted dramatic actors than comedians. Now, don't get me wrong I am sure I've watched every episode of The Fresh Price of BelAir at least 20 times and still laugh just as much as the first time. However, there is so much more skill and vulnerability involved when making a character's grief, guilt, and anguish relatable and real and... I believe him. I get totally sucked into every performance and end up aching along side his characters.

I think the music Ennio Morricone created for this film mirrors Ben Thomas' character perfectly! This composition may appear to be simple by music theory standards but it is far from simple in emotional and creative depth.

The melody consists of a partial cord progression hic-uped on an accidental played on the 3rd note in every climb. On the second verse a second piano sweetly comes in quickly followed by an on-set of smooth, monotoned strings; neither overshadowing the consistent sforzando piano melody with it's consistent jarring accidental. By the third verse the second piano transforms into a staccatoed march while the strings crescendo into a passionate, heavenly legato body while the tenacious melody holds firm elevating the piece into an almost tangible viscosity of euphoria. The last verse reverts back to the lone melody crawling to the finish with just a whisper of strings remaining until the audience is left with final not of the suppended accidental. Brilliant.

As I listen to this piece I envision a young child practicing his/her scales along side their teacher or parent. I put myself in the position of the child. It invokes a wave of emotions especially for anyone who's ever taken piano lessons and periodically performed to an adjudicator to have their skill sized-up. In the case of Ben Thomas he's not being judged against skill level but by his deeds yet to a young child who's trying to just get through their ajudicators verdict with unwavering acceptence, it can feel the same.

This piece is note worth to me because it's truly breath-taking. The first time I heard it I immediately took notice of its elementary level symmetry while respecting how beautiful and truly poignant it's message. That accidental hits you hard the first couple times and absolutely throws you off but the piece never resolves the accidental, every climb ends in a clash. It doesn't stop for the sake of being defiant or abrasive but for the sake of steading the course. That melody courses an unyielding march; it doesn't rush, its doesn't back down when the strings out-shine, its raw and its powerful and by the end those accidentals are gorgeous. I think Ennio was graciously saying there will always be accidentals but its how we react to them that reveals our final character and beautiful resolve.

You Are So Beautiful

“You Are So Beautiful”
By: Billy Preston, Bruce Fisher and Dennis Wilson
Performed by: Joe Cocker

“You Are So Beautiful” was originally written and performed by Billy Preston in 1974 after collaborating on the lyrics with friends Bruce Fisher and Dennis Wilson (from The Beach Boys). Preston’s version has a very upbeat, 1970’s School House Rock meets Soul Train vibe, including a prelude of R&B’s usage of the word “baby”.  But it was Joe Cocker who transformed this song into an unforgettable, international hit (and very interestingly enough in the same year as Preston's).

Though Joe Cocker has written original songs/albums he is really a very successful cover performer. But don’t be fooled, Joe Cocker is a true original, including winning a Best Duo Grammy with Jennifer Warnes for the 1982 track song “Up Where We Belong” for the movie An Officer and a Gentleman which also received an Academy Award for Best Original Song. And like originals Joe Cocker was also an original bad-boy of rock and soul.

Cocker’s career took off at the legendary 1969 Woodstock after singing The Beatle’s, “With a Little Help from My Friends” which version became the theme song to the hit tv show The Wonder Years. Man I miss that show.

Like many artists, Cocker struggled with stage freight which most likely explains his drug-induced, crazed, on-stage performances with no lack of flaying arms and seizure-like movements.

He un-apologetically earned the nickname “The Mad Dog” after he and his band members were arrested for getting into a barrel in a hotel (including marijuana possession) while on tour in Australia and then was given 48 hours to leave the country. Shortly after, his band dismembered and Cocker sank deeper into heroin and alcohol, consequently forever damaging his voice, leaving it rasped.  But he didn’t let that stop his career and once he got off heroin he immediately went back to work with his producer, Jim Price, where they came up with the smoother, slowed-down version of “You Are So Beautiful”.

Lyrics:

“You are so beautiful

To me
You are so beautiful
To me
Can’t you see?
You’re everything I hope for
You’re everything I need
You are so beautiful
To me

You are so beautiful
To me
You are so beautiful
To me
Can’t you see?
You’re everything I hoped for
Everything I need
You are so beautiful
To me”

I want to first point out Cocker’s version totals 59 words while Preston’s original totals 122 words. Both versions were written without a chorus or you could say the song is JUST chorus…whichever way you want to categorize it- it only adds to the power and intensity of the ballad and I’ll tell you why!

Joe Cocker’s version concentrates on one repeated verse. Why? Why say the same thing twice? Listen to this song. Listen specifically to way he delivers every word. It’s as if he’s assigned a distinctly strong and powerful emotion into each word and note.

If I had to make a ball park guess I think I have listened to this song well over 500 times in my lifetime and I have no doubt Joe Cocker is the gushiest of romantics. I think Cocker knows women. I think he is aware of women’s tendency of needing to be told over and over and OVER again: we are loved, appreciated, desired, admired, craved, and of course… BEAUTIFUL.

So here he is giving us literally what we want (and secretly hate to have to ask for) so the question is: Why on earth is this song so dang popular and played at every freakin’ wedding (including mine) and why have so many already established artist like: Diana Ross, Michael Buble, Perry Como, Doris Day, Celine Dion, etc. made covers of this song too? Answer: Because they ALL want to sing it like Joe Cocker! But what they really don't understand its not just his voice, it's his conviction that makes this song so powerful!

I’ll tell you what makes this song a classic. This is not a song written for new love. This is man’s voice. A well seasoned man’s voice singing from experience, both good and bad. The damage to his voice only makes it that much more gorgeous. Listen again. He gets more intense with every word, shouting even, straining so hard and with all the conviction in the world to REMIND his love how he feels. And I don’t just want to believe it I have proof!

In Preston’s version he wrote, “You are everything I hoped for” and Cocker changed “hoped” to the present “hope”. This was not accidental. And don’t get mixed up here folks, Cocker isn’t saying “hope” because it hasn’t happened yet nooooo he’s talking about a continuous love that exists. A love he approaches in the moment and Cocker’s version is about this moment. “You are” not were, not will be, but ARE. “Can’t you see?” Men are all about efficiency, he's saying in four words what women would say,  “don’t you know how I feel about you? You are everything and I'm still amazed everyday. etc etc etc"

Then he solidifies his devotion by changing to “hoped” in the second verse. Again, not an oversight! Cocker’s recipient has heard how he has felt and what he is promising in the future and here Cocker boasting what he dreamed of came true.

In close, I love this song. Yes, it helps that it’s obvious his biggest musical influence was Ray Charles, I mean the piano sounds like it IS Ray playing and I LOVE Charles’ music (that’s for another day). I rarely listen to this song just once. It’s automatic, I HAVE to repeat it a few times which is a little ironic, I guess I need to hear the words even more! 

I find this ballad to be so acquisitive despite the pounding piano, as it's not soft or romantic, it harsh and sounds as if a child is practicing piano against their will. The words are simple and not forced. Cocker's voice sounds like a gruff, old rancher is singing to his cattle but with some unforeseen force the combination is magical and makes my heart jump up into my throat. 

In a nutshell, Cocker's version is not only one of my top 3 favorite melodies but in a word ... well ...Beautiful.

  

Coming Around Again

“Coming Around Again” By Carly Simon

“Coming Around Again” was written for the 1986 movie Heartburn starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicolson. The movie is based on the autobiography of Nora Ephron who is a very famous novelist, screenwriter, director, etc. and wrote some of the biggest movies we know: When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Silkwood, You’ve Got Mail, etc. I’ve heard her as a guest star on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” and listened to her give her director commentary on Julie & Julia. I’m sorry to report she comes off as a very bitter liberal with moments of wit.

Heartburn, in a nutshell, is your quintessential 80’s women’s lib man-hater movie where: woman falls for man, man falls for woman, they get married, have a kid, woman finds out man is cheating, woman gives man an ultimatum, man says he’s stopped, they get pregnant again, woman finds out man is still cheating, man won’t end affair, and then woman leaves man to raise children on her own and work full time.

It’s all very tragic and made to come off like “the man” is just doing what’s in his nature (as you find out later in the film even the “woman’s” father is a philander too.) Thus, no men come off good in the film while women are victimized, with fits raised, cluelessly asking, “Why? WHY did this happen to me? Why wasn’t I enough?” (How were the 80’s EVER proactive and truly liberating for women again???)

So anyway, Carly Simon wrote this title track for Heartburn, as she had on other movies such as James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me “No Body Does It Better”.  

Lyrics:

"Baby sneezes

Mommy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
But so bewildering

(chorus)

I know nothing stays the same
But if you’re willing to play the game
It’s coming around again
So don’t mind if I fall apart
There’s more room in a broken heart

You pay the grocer
Fix the toaster
Kiss the host Good-bye
Then you break a window
Burn the Soufflé
Scream a lullaby

(Chorus repeats)

And I believe in love
But what else can I do
I’m so in love with you"

Again, this is a quintessential women’s lib 80’s soft rock piece AND a personal top favorite on my iPod. I remember being a young girl and loving when it came on the radio. And as a young kid I could feel an underlining tension in the lyrics and especially in Carly’s crescendos as she purposely borders on shouting in the final chorus, “I know nothing stays the same but if you’re willing to play the game it will be comin’ around again.”

As a kid I envisioned a Mom playing a board game like Pictionary or Candy Land and waiting on her husband to roll the dice or quit. I knew it was a song about a Mommy and Daddy’s relationship among their responsibilities. And as I grew up I understand the song to be about a Mommy who’s describing what it means to be a Wife again after becoming a Mommy.

It wasn’t until after I saw Heartburn a good five years ago that this song took on a whole new understanding and appreciation for me. Really, the lyrics could appear to paint the picture of a character who, through being the repeated victim of spousal infidelity becomes disheveled, over loaded, under-appreciated poor ‘ol house wife including the woo is me repeated line, “So don’t mind if I fall apart, there’s more room in a broken heart” -A rather typical female feeling after giving and giving emotionally, physically, financially, EVERYWAY to her lover, children, family and employer, etc. that they hit a wall and crack (which happens every 27 days and even more often depending on stress load) and when women crack we do have the tendency to be victim-y about our stresses. So even with the lyrics mimicking the plot of Heartburn I still interrupt them differently.

I don’t think this song paints a picture of a mistreated wife and mom at all. I think this song is honest. I think this piece is about Marriage, expectations and realities of. “So good on paper, so romantic, but so bewildering”

Some of the greatest insight I ever heard on the topic of marriage said: “There are two questions to ask yourself when choosing whom to marry. #1.) IF there was a chance your potential spouse would not change even the tiniest bit from this moment til the rest of your lives, would you be willing to accept him/her, flaws and all and never resent them for it? And  #2.) IF there was the chance your potential spouse could completely change at any moment from today til the rest of your life, are you willing to accept that possibility and never resent them for it? If BOTH parties honestly, truly answer of themselves YES AND remember to live up to their answers they are set up as best they can for a successful marriage.”

I like to think Carly Simon wasn’t giving us the negative 80’s perspective of a bitter woman who battles juggling husband, children, career AND keeping her body sexy. I like to think she believes in love as she repeats many times and not chanting the line in a desperate attempt at convincing herself she’s still devoted to her husband and marriage. I think she’s just being a woman and asking for a little reminder she is loved and appreciated. Because really, love isn’t the dating stage, the proposal stage nor the honeymoon. Love happens during the reactions to the broken windows, burnt Souffles, and accepting amends for a moment of selfishness.

And yes, I Believe in Love.