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useless trivia: lucinda wrote this song on january 2, 1995.
dierk, our german friend, has uploaded the first 4 new tracks (if you have to choose one to download and listen to go with the hollywood/’96 version, it’s amazing). he also included the artwork of the bootleg albums.
http://s89905130.onlinehome.us/public/kool/
the spreadsheet titled “2 Kool Versions (updated by Guilherme) worx.xls” has everything you may want to know about phase 3 (as robert puts it) of the project.
blessed.
i think everyone here that “discovered” lucinda after the release of happy woman blues (or any album after) must have felt that the disclosure of the title of her immediately next record is a bit of a big deal. i can only imagine the car wheels crowd reaction towards essence, the essence crowd reaction towards world without tears et al. this is the first of her records that won’t make me feel like the last person arriving at a great celebration. and i think this is a feeling exclusive to this particular release.
wonderful title, but i was expecting “seeing black” or even “copenhagen”.
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
(…) to the inherent value of changing the locks both metaphorically and literally when one is trying to survive a break-up. The woman even spontaneously sang part of the Who’s “I Can See For Miles” to me over the phone.
i bet “change the locks” is the link. the lyrics for “i can see for miles” are similar in spirit.
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).
not really groundbreaking, and not at all faith-related, but i wouldn’t waste a thread just for this. i just found a review from 2004 of world without tears from a freelance journalist based in são paulo, brazil. it’s a raving review – and better, one in portuguese. the title could be roughly translated as “lucinda williams reborns with WWT”, but you shouldn’t take that badly. he loves car wheels & essence as well.
http://musica.uol.com.br/pulso/2004/05/07/ult703u97.jhtm
this is really a first, but i guess i’m bound to find more stuff if i look into it, esp. on west/little honey. for the new album, i hope to bring some news then. it’s about time lucinda became a household name around here.
this is somewhat faith-related, after all.
(and sorry to barge in, Con.)
not exactly an answer to your question, and no idea if it holds up, but:
“Both of Williams’s grandfathers were Methodist ministers. Thanks to Williams’ parents, she grew up a Unitarian.”
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1497
and you should be anxious; so far i think we have two titles of new songs, “seeing black” and “copenhagen”.
“copenhagen” sounds great, and for just one reason: lucinda + any city worldwide = pure joy. useless trivia: i’m not exactly counting, but as far as i remember i think this is her third mention of a non-US city (after amsterdam & london, from “real love”). and it’s also a tribute song as i recall. here’s hoping for something as powerful as “lake charles”.
of course, i’m thinking of copenhagen, the capital of denmark. maybe is the tobacco.
i’m looking forward to read the reports and watch youtube videos.
i’m curious if the 3rd-disc-as-a-dvd is still going to happen. that’d be terrific. and the 2nd featuring that norwegian radio show.
am i imagining things? i think i read something like this months ago.
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.
oh, and two screenshots: http://twitpic.com/273yhn / http://twitpic.com/2741nk
the funny thing about the first one is that after being directly responsible for a car crash, the blue bird just starts singing through the windshield, and then it finally removes its beak from there and resumes the song. you must see it.
lucinda contributed two songs for the ep. 30-seconds-only “ain’t it odd” with gillian welch (a match made in heaven in my opinion), and “listen to the animals”, with drive-by truckers, gillian/dave, will oldham et al. alas, she got just a couple of verses of the latter.
lucinda’s a blue bird and gillian, a red one. bring those birds back for season six.
