Song Lyric Sunday: In Praise of FANDANGO.

Jim Adams

This week it is Fandango Sunday and our theme is Other, That, This. Now Jim Adams (our gracious host for Song Lyric Sunday ) tells us that our Fandango is a stalwart of the WordPress community.  You have to give him credit for blogging on an iPhone, that’s a definite plus in my book because I do all my blog from my Android MotoG.  Everyone should be familiar with his daily FOWC, his weekly Provocative Questions and Flash Fiction photo challenges and his new Story Starter prompt.  He is a very dedicated blogger who always has something to say.  HAPPY SUNDAY FANDANGO.

For my part I have chosen three songs that are very close to my heart. They are songs that sing and mark my life. I am a woman with all the foibles that involves. I have had good and bad times both physically and mentally. …if I am truly honest these songs relate to my mental wellness or lack of it at times. Times I don’t drag up but the made me what I am so I own them proudly.

First up is Some Other World from The Alan Parsons Project.1977, I had two of our boys, I was lonely, insecure and to be honest struggling with hubby working away for days , sometimes weeks on end at short notice. I had always been a huge SiFi fan and was reading a lot of Isaac Asimov, so the I Robot album was right up my street. So when the children were in bed I would curl up on the sofa with a book and listen to I Robot, sometimes I’d just watch pictures in my head.

The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. They were accompanied by a varying number of session musicians and some relatively consistent session players such as guitarist Ian Bairnson, arranger Andrew Powell, bassist and vocalist David Paton, drummer Stuart Elliott, and vocalists Lenny Zakatek and Chris Rainbow. Parsons was an audio engineer and producer by profession, but also a musician and a composer. A songwriter by profession, Woolfson was also a composer, a pianist, and a singer. Almost all the songs on the Project’s albums are credited to “Woolfson/Parsons”.

The track is from their second album I Robot released in June 1977. The album was intended to be based on the I, Robot stories written by Asimov, and Eric Woolfson spoke with Asimov himself, who was enthusiastic about the idea. As the rights already had been granted to a TV/movie company, the album’s title was altered slightly by removing the comma in “I,”, and the theme and lyrics were made to be more generically about robots rather than to be specific to the Asimov universe. The cover inlay reads: “I Robot… The story of the rise of the machine and the decline of man, which paradoxically coincided with his discovery of the wheel… and a warning that his brief dominance of this planet will probably end, because man tried to create robot in his own image.”

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Ever since childhood I have never really felt good enough. I have always put on a good show though and I really try to help others. I realise now that a lot of what I have done in my life is to please others, keep the peace and be accepted.and that’s what this Alanis Morissette track is all about.

That I Would Be Good” is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette that was first featured on her 1998 album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and later an acoustic live version of the song was recorded during a session for MTV Unplugged on September 18, 1999. It was released as a single from the latter album on February 8.

The constant electrical buzz that can be heard throughout the track came unintentionally from Ballard recording too close to an amplifier. He re-recorded the guitar section to correct it, but Morissette immediately noticed the change – “What happened to the original?” – Ballard told her the buzz was bothering him, but she said, “No way. We’ve lost the magic, and you’ve gotta put it back.”

“That I Would Be Good” was chosen to be the lead single of the album, being released in December 1999. The CD single features the MTV Unplugged version of “That I Would Be Good” and live versions of “Would Not Come”, “I Was Hoping” (from Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie) and “Forgiven” (from Jagged Little Pill).

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I have often felt bogged down in life but everyone has the same to deal with. This woman’s work, seems to say it all. I am not sure whether the song is written from a man or woman’s perspective to me it could be either. Apparently it about a man who wife and child are in danger due to childbirth but I feel you can read this song either way. I have had miscarriages, I very nearly lost our eldest at birth, thank god for post natal care (NICU) as it’s called these days. I love Kate Bush and hers is the original, yet I had to include Maxwell’s version because I have to admit it is my favourite.

“This Woman’s Work” is a song written and performed by the British singer Kate Bush. It was originally featured on the soundtrack of the American film She’s Having a Baby (1988). The song was released as the second single from her album The Sensual World in 1989 and peaked at 25 in the UK Singles Chart.

The lyric of “This Woman’s Work” is about being forced to confront an unexpected and frightening crisis during the normal event of childbirth. Written for the movie She’s Having a Baby, director John Hughes used the song during the film’s dramatic climax, when Jake (Kevin Bacon) learns that the lives of his wife, Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern), and their unborn child are in danger. As the song plays, a montage sequence of flashbacks is displayed, showing the couple in happier times, intercut with shots of him waiting for news of Kristy and their baby’s condition. Bush wrote the song specifically for the sequence, writing from a man’s (Jake’s) viewpoint and matching the words to the visuals which had already been filmed.

The version of the song that was featured on The Sensual World was re-edited from the original version featured on the film soundtrack. The version released as a single was a third, slightly different mix.

“This Woman’s Work” is one of several songs that were completely re-recorded on her 2011 album Director’s Cut. The new version features a sparse performance of Bush singing and playing piano.

In 1997, American R&B musician Maxwell covered the song for the release of his album MTV Unplugged. The artist later re-recorded the song in studio for his album Now (2001). This version of the song was released as the album’s third single in 2001 and peaked in the US Billboard charts at number 58 (Billboard Hot 100 in 2002) and number 16 (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs). This version also appeared in the movie Love & Basketball.

The song was featured on week 7 of So You Think You Can Dance (American season 5) (22 July 2009). It was used as the music for a contemporary dance choreographed by Tyce Diorio and performed by contestants Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi.

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE 💜