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the last post kind of proved to me that i’m not able to put together a paragraph for an argumentative text, at least a non-confused one. i read again what i wrote and it’s all very strange, especially when i mention about first-person narrator (just so you know how desperate things can get, i got this expression directly from its version in portuguese – and i was lucky, i just googled it and it seems to be appropriate).
so i’ll write a bit more about 2 kool, this time without those flights of fancy.
i love this song since 2007, the year i first listened to lucinda (the car wheels album). for some dumb reason, the only songs that i kept listening afterwards – not frequently – were “right in time” and “2 kool”, ocasionally “car wheels” (yeah, tracks #1, #3 and #2; i think this is bound to happen sometimes, we prioritize the first couple of songs). cut to april 24, 2009 (since i have a last.fm account is easy for me to get information like that), the day when i listened to car wheels again, and wow, just wow – it blew my mind. cut to getting stuff on the internet (i know i shouldn’t mention this here, but since i did i might as well add that since april ’09 i bought on ebay both austin city limits dvds and seven of her albuns… and a poster too.)/ mix-tapes (not many, though. one of them had “essence”, “steal your love”, “hot blood”, “righteously” and “i just wanted to see you so bad” sequenced; yeah, it was about ONE thing, and no, didn’t quite work.)/ recommending lucinda to every person i know/ mentioning her on twitter on a daily basis (= recommending)/getting an answer from her on twitter (something to do with a friend of mine, “ocasional dj”, saying that if he included car wheels on one of his setlists, people would strip their clothes off while listening to it – lucinda was puzzled with “striptease” and “car wheels” going hand in hand; i swear, this was a great day)/ writing a short film screenplay in which one of the characters (a 30-year-old librarian) is named lucinda (lucinda is a pretty common first name in brazil, btw)/ searching bootlegs like crazy/ planning on seeing her live in europe in 2012/13… now i’m in that fase of beaming like crazy every time i listen to a rare bootleg or, say, to an alternative version of real love.
people sometimes come here and tell stories about the importance of lucinda in their lives and how they became familiar with her work, and this is mine: on april 24, ’09 i simply decided to give another go to car wheels. yes, i’m a huge fan for about 14 months, and yes, i realize i’m out of line in asking for a south america tour at this stage, but this lucinda frenzy is certainly not a fleeting affair. sometimes when i come here i’m almost embarassed in writing stuff along with people that are familiar with lucinda since the 80s, 90s, 00s. it’s a great honor to be here, among comitted fans, i sense that my 14 months will become 14 years in no time. sometimes when i’m listening to, let’s say, an austin concert from 1994 (in which she performed lots of songs from car wheels) and i wonder “how come you just got to listen to her in 2009?”. the answer is quite obvious: in 94 i was a 7-year-old. so i guess i’m coming to terms with the fact that, well, before late than never.
now with 2 kool. in 2007, i had no idea what junebug vs. hurricane meant or what the reason behind those funky numbers on the title. and two years later the only thing i know for sure is that people once wrote some inscriptions on a red wall, lucinda saw them through the eyes of a photographer and the rest is history. i think i want to be familiar with every single aspect of this song because i was already nuts about it years ago, and those 14 months of heavy-listening only made the mystery richer: i’m still unable to grasp this song. it’s not like i need to understand it, and more like i’d love to hear more stuff about it since there’s so much potencial for storytelling in it. i guess i like to hear what people in general have to say about it. that’s why i think that this project from robert (22 versions of the song) is so terrific. if anyone told me on april 23, ’09 that a french guy would be shipping a year later from paris to rio a cd with TWENTY-TWO versions of a single song, i wouldn’t believe it. and then, by listening to every single track of the compilation, you realize that lucinda gave credits to the author of the book that inspired the song every time – and you can’t help but admire how these thinks work, how masterpieces are created almost randomly and how they can bring together two admirers from different backgrounds. of course this can be said of every song, but i always wondered about lucinda’s relation with this one in particular, especially in which sense the second part is linked with the first, how the inscription on that red wall and all signs and details from those mississippi bars brought us those star-crossed lovers at that lake charles bridge.
which is to say: i wonder but i don’t think i really want to know; there’s nothing to know really. the answer is obvious: lucinda’s personal images + lucinda’s astounding craft. it seems such a miracle that this song happened. i guess that when something strikes you as awesome you have a tendency to consider it a happy accident, a one-time wonder, and 2 kool is still the song i listen to the most. it’s almost creepy to imagine what happened to me between 2007 and now, it seems like a watershed on most respects (not only regarding lucinda, obviously), but the idea that 2 kool is still able to entice me just as much as in 2007 is more than a reason to treasure lucinda for life.
well, i wrote too much. i’m saving everything i’ve been writing on this forum. i think it should be… let’s say heartwarming to read it all in the near future.
I enjoyed reading your insights-thank you for sharing them. I hope you indeed do continue writing here.
@punchdrunklove wrote:
agreed, that one tops everything, the hey hey-finale is joyful. but the ’95 version is pretty terrific as well; not only because it’s old-timey, almost ancient, but especially because of the way she introduces the book and tells the title of the song during her performance, not before. i love that, the guitar soaring over her words.
and i have a question about the lyrics of this live version:
“??? (cf. rosedale), mississippi, freedom village (cf. magic city) juke joint”
i keep hearing marseille. is that right?
I think she refers to “Marcella, Mississippi” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcella,_Mississippi). Probably one of those places in the American Deep South where the ghost of Robert Johnson resides . . . .
@KJR wrote:
I think she refers to “Marcella, Mississippi” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcella,_Mississippi). Probably one of those places in the American Deep South where the ghost of Robert Johnson resides . . . .
Definitely a town in the heart of Delta country, and only a 63 mile drive southeast from Greenville…
Tom
marcella, mississippi! thanks.
great news on the 2 kool 23-counting project, i’ll bring a few more versions of it in flac format.
@punchdrunklove wrote:
marcella, mississippi! thanks.
great news on the 2 kool 23-counting project, i’ll bring a few more versions of it in flac format.
I am getting ready for the inevitability of moving into phase III of the 2 Kool project. Great news!
Thanks to punchdrunklove for his rumination on “2 Kool”.
So how does one end up doing a CD compilation of 14 versions of “2 Kool” and then a second compilation of 22 versions of the same song? Moreover, why does one end up making these compilations?
Short background – I am an American (from Los Angeles) who’s lived in Paris, France, off and on since 1987 (continuously since 2004). I listen nowadays mostly to classical music (Bach through Chopin) but am at heart a Beatles, Stones, Motown, Dylan, Stax/Volt, Hendrix classic rock enthusiast. I still listen to that stuff but on an intermittent basis, and know very little about rap, hip-hop, grunge, punk, and the other genres that have emerged in the past couple of decades. In short, I am old-fashioned, stick safely to what I know and like very well, and am not very adventurous when it comes to current pop music, although every so often something new will catch my attention.
Up until a couple of years ago I was vaguely familiar with Lucinda Williams but I hadn’t really listened to her. I knew she had a reputation as a cult figure, crossing the pop/rock/country boundaries, with a mild tough-gal, outlaw image, with a touch of pre-nostalgia-act Keith Richards. There was a good profile in the New Yorker a few years ago that piqued one’s interest. After hearing so much about it, I picked up “Car Wheels” (deluxe edition, with the live set) a couple of years ago. A somewhat rare foray out of my usual limited pasture.
My first impressions were not that positive. I found her voice a bit thin, not always on-pitch. Technically, she made judicious use of vibrato in an effective way, which suggested a little more training and calculation than her heart-on-her-sleeve, emotional, and confessional style would otherwise indicate.
There was enough there to keep my attention and interest. A broken-hearted, world-weary view of life can always be attractive, since very few are spared first-hand knowledge of life’s disappointments, especially in that great segment of life centered on “love,” a concept hard to define much less control. Most of her songs are about loss, disappointed love, betrayal, anger. She can seem so very vulnerable but at the same time so tough, so hard-bitten. Someone who wants intimacy and partnership but who trusts no one and who has been hurt enough to be justified in her unease with anyone getting too close. Someone who doesn’t trust herself very well either.
So I gradually came to like and savor “Car Wheels” and to appreciate her artistic persona and gifts, her craftsmanship. Her less than full bodied voice came to seem a virtue, contributing as it does to the sense of vulnerability one associates with her lyrics.
“2 Kool” stood out, even from all the other songs about lost loves and lost lives. It is a strange song, a unique song. It seems to be not so much a song about loss but about death itself. Robert Johnson making deals with the devil, snake charmers able to avoid harm even while drinking ostensibly deadly brews, bridge jumpers almost convincing one to join them. Much negative imagery – no gambling, no fighting, no booze, June bugs standing up to hurricanes (whether bugs against the weather or one gang against another). Everything in the past, with no future reference, except the reminder not to forget. The only things requiring remembrance are things no longer around, i.e., dead things.
Why is a song about death so compelling? I think it has to do with the whole artful construct of the song, the way she took a couple of photos, created a story, drawing on the Robert Johnson legend (just how did he get to be such a virtuoso?), adding the circus sideshow element of the snake charmer, becoming chillingly personal with the scene on the bridge. Out of these disparate elements she somehow creates a narrative touching on mystery, the unknown, the carnival-like, the anti-scientific, almost anti-matter, magical, traveling-alone-on-the-ether quality of life. It’s quite literally voodoo.
Voodoo themes built on a hypnotic riff that reasserts itself with regularity, a simple structure impossible not to integrate into one’s appreciation of the song. A three-chord loop with its own mesmerizing quality.
“2 Kool” reminded me vaguely of another seductive tune, the Pretenders’ “Sense of Purpose” (especially the “unplugged” version on the “Isle of View” live album), another song with a similar search for meaning within life’s chaos, with its own reference to an early death.
The live set on the deluxe edition of “Car Wheels,” with its rendition of “2 Kool,” set me on a quest to find just how many versions of this song were out there. I came across this site: http://www.ousterhout.net/lossless/lwilliams.html, and then, when I got to talking to others in this forum, punchdrunklove and tntracy of course made their very generous contributions. It was fun, if tedious, to put the compilations together, with the artwork, photos, labels, etc. But worth the effort. Hearing the evolution this song has gone through over some 15 years has itself been a revelation, and she has always done justice to the song by singing it in its entirety, without truncating it. More recently, she’s tended to rock it up a bit more. Its meaning remains elusive.
I had the good fortune of seeing her live (for the first and so far only time) on July 23, 2009, here in Paris. The day of the show I Twittered and asked her to play “2 Kool”. I don’t know if my entreaty had any effect, but she did play it that night, much to my great joy.
As indicated in one of the previous messages, more versions of this strange and powerful song may be forthcoming. If so, the “2 Kool” project will continue. May it do so for a good while.
As indicated in one of the previous messages, more versions of this strange and powerful song may be forthcoming. If so, the “2 Kool” project will continue. May it do so for a good while.
there you go:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QAKBWSO3 (November 16, 2001 – Raleigh, NC) –> wonderful.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LQ3FSP6Q (November 2, 2006 – Paradiso, Amsterdam)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EBDNZ8GP (July 22, 2009 – Blue Ball Festival, Luzern, Switzerland)
all three in flac format.
26 now, counting that previous one i sent you a few weeks ago (april 18, 2007 – buffalo, ny).
***
Why is a song about death so compelling? I think it has to do with the whole artful construct of the song, the way she took a couple of photos, created a story, drawing on the Robert Johnson legend (just how did he get to be such a virtuoso?), adding the circus sideshow element of the snake charmer, becoming chillingly personal with the scene on the bridge. Out of these disparate elements she somehow creates a narrative touching on mystery, the unknown, the carnival-like, the anti-scientific, almost anti-matter, magical, traveling-alone-on-the-ether quality of life. It’s quite literally voodoo.
Voodoo themes built on a hypnotic riff that reasserts itself with regularity, a simple structure impossible not to integrate into one’s appreciation of the song. A three-chord loop with its own mesmerizing quality.
that was some of the best writing i’ve seen here.
@punchdrunklove wrote:
Why is a song about death so compelling? I think it has to do with the whole artful construct of the song, the way she took a couple of photos, created a story, drawing on the Robert Johnson legend (just how did he get to be such a virtuoso?), adding the circus sideshow element of the snake charmer, becoming chillingly personal with the scene on the bridge. Out of these disparate elements she somehow creates a narrative touching on mystery, the unknown, the carnival-like, the anti-scientific, almost anti-matter, magical, traveling-alone-on-the-ether quality of life. It’s quite literally voodoo.
Voodoo themes built on a hypnotic riff that reasserts itself with regularity, a simple structure impossible not to integrate into one’s appreciation of the song. A three-chord loop with its own mesmerizing quality.
that was some of the best writing i’ve seen here.
I agree! Thanks for posting KJR & PDL!
Tom
i have stupendous news for this project and all the two people involved.
it’s just, you know, around 25 more versions of 2 kool in flac version. that makes the project go beyond FIFTY TRACKS, which is pretty terrific (and a bit crazy, i just now realize). robert should get some rest after making the 3rd edition (a SUPERDELUXE 4-cd compilation).
and the person with all this stuff is really generous and nice, he’s from hamburg, germany, and apparently is willing to upload everything we don’t have. i’m already salivating over a version dated 22 january, 1996 (hollywood). we need all the oldies we can get.
and there’s some versions from 98 and 99, as well.
robert will be pleased to know that he have both versions from the last two shows lucinda did in paris (2007 and last year’s).
I’m sure it has been mentioned on this site before, but in this song the lines “Says he wants…” to “will not hurt him” are largely from the bible (Mark 16:18).
I’m sure it has been mentioned on this site before, but in this song the lines “Says he wants…” to “will not hurt him” are largely from the bible (Mark 16:18).
didn’t know about that.
two translations of mark 16:18:
“They will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
“They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
http://freethought.mbdojo.com/snakebite.html
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