Music |
Rickie Lee Jones
By
Published: Mar 27, 2013
Category:
Rock
When she was a kid, she’d put her thumb out, hitch a ride and end up "two or three states away."
She was tossed out of high school.
She became a drifter, and, as drifters will, she ended up in Los Angeles.
The year was 1973. She was 19.
Occasionally she slept behind the HOLLYWOOD sign. Mostly she hung out in Venice. She waited tables. She sang in clubs. And she wrote. Always.
A song of hers ended up on an album by Lowell George, once of Little Feat. That got her an audition with Warner Brothers. And, in turn, a record deal.
Her debut, "Rickie Lee Jones," included a song called "Chuck E.’s in Love." It sold a trillion records (and, decades later, made success easier for Sheryl Crow). She won the Grammy for Best New Artist. In her beret, sundress and high heels, she was held up as some kind of new icon — a jazzy hipster.
The idea was: Do this again. And again.
Rickie Lee Jones didn’t. She released an album with a different sound, driving off fans who value consistency over originality. She took time off. She got married and had a daughter. And, finally, in 1989, she released the exquisite 11-song album, "Flying Cowboys." [To buy the CD from Amazon for the crazy price of $4.99 — this won’t last — click here. For the MP3 download, click here.]
This album, a critic wrote, "is the work of what initially seems like an entirely different person." A happy person. A person who sees a future worth having, for her and her family. (Update: The marriage broke up; the daughter endures.)
The songs are mostly pretty. And quiet. And unadorned. There is a persistent Western motif, and if you have ever had the pleasure of riding or hiking in the West, you will feel the spaciousness in this music.
The first song, "The Horses," is sufficient reason to buy this CD.
Here are the lyrics:
We will fly
Way up high
Where the cold wind blows
Or in the sun
Laughing having fun
With the people that she knows
And if the situation
Should keep us separated
You know the world won’t fall apart
And you will free the beautiful bird
That’s caught inside your heart
Can’t you hear her ?
Oh she cries so loud
Casts her wild note
Over water and cloud
That’s the way it’s gonna be, little darlin’
We’ll be riding on the horses, yeah
Way up in the sky, little darlin’
And if you fall I’ll pick you up, pick you up
You will grow
And until you go
I’ll be right there by your side
And even then
Whisper the wind
And she will carry up your ride
I hear all the people of the world
In one bird’s lonely cry
See them trying every way they know how
To make their spirit fly
Can’t you see him ?
He’s down on the ground
He has a broken wing
Looking all around
That’s the way it’s gonna be, little darlin’
You go riding on the horses, yeah
Way up in the sky, little darlin’
And if you fall I’ll pick you up, pick you up
Can’t you hear her ?
Oh she cries so loud
Casts her wild note
Over water and cloud
I’ll pick you up darlin’ if you fall
Don’t worry ’bout a thing little girl
Because I was young myself not so long ago
And when I was young
When I was young
And when I was young, oh I was a wild, wild one.
Nothing hip about this song for her daughter. Nothing mannered. No regret about the past ("I was a wild, wild one"). Total commitment looking forward: "If you fall, I’ll pick you up, pick you up." And that lovely image of humanity observed "in one bird’s lonely cry."
I wouldn’t change a word of this song. Or a note of this CD. "Flying Cowboys" is the very definition of "timeless."
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