However, it might be a while before I get to see the latest
.youth bundle of joy as “M” has come down with a severe dose of influenza. Obviously no one, least of all mother and child,
would want to be cradled and kissed by someone who is a potential germ
carrier. And so I needed to think of
some grand gesture.
Naturally, the bub was on my mind when I sat down at work
this morning and I selected album that many fans of my age would probably
choose in celebrating such a moment:
(# 578) Stevie Wonder
– Songs In The Key Of Life (1976)
Although arguably Wonder’s best album and also widely
regarded as one of the landmark soul/r&b albums ever released, the main
reason for playing this is due to the presence of Isn’t She Lovely, a song
about the wonders of birth that has a universal feel good vibe that can be
appreciated by any new parent irrespective of the baby’s gender. A lot of the
rest of the album deals with a person’s life cycle with the presence of some
social aware tracks such as Village Ghetto Land and Black Man suggesting the
life cycle for an African American. However, the album has been embraced by
successive generations since its release impressed by Wonder’s insistence in
the power of love and a belief in god.
And it’s also got on it Sir Duke and Pastime Paradise which Coolio
subsequently sampled in creating Gangster’s Paradise.
Once I heard Isn’t She Lovely I had an idea. I cued my boom box back to the start of the
track, rang the mother in the hospital and after a few words started to play it
over the phone. Although I didn’t know
it at the time, child was resting on top of mother as I played it, which
probably accounted for latters tears of gratitude when I started to talk to her
again.
After that I had a number of varied tasks to attend to and
it was a while before I could add to the playlist. Still feeling a warm inner glow over the
events of the morning and still being in a celebratory mood I opted for:
(# 579) Dolly Parton
– Little Sparrow (2001)
I usually don’t spend too much time analysing lyrics but I
think I’ve sussed out that the title track really isn’t a song that one ought
to celebrate a new life. Yet I’m taken
by the chorus of and early lines of the song which convincingly convey the
essence of a young innocent in need of guidance in the face of what can be a cruel
world. And the track also sets the tone
for this wonderful album of bluegrass music sung and impeccably played by Ms
Parton. Originals such as the title
track go head to head against some well chosen and odd covers such as Cole
Porter’s I Get A Kick Out Of You, Steve Young’s Seven Bridges Road (a song more
familiar to listeners by The Eagles cover on their live album) and Collective
Soul’s Shine. Parton’s career and
catalogue is a daunting one and, apart from a well selected anthology, this is
as good a place as any to enter it.
(# 580) Julian Cope –
20 Mothers (1995)
One of Cope’s last commercially successful albums, this is a
pretty accessible and enjoyable album of his form of psychedelic rock and folk
but with added lashings of other genres.
Nowhere is this better seen in the hit single Try Try Try which veers
dangerously close to being classified as an infectious pop song. But he wisely
placed this track in the midst of a number of his more patented musically and
lyrically eccentric tracks (Wheelbarrow Man, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud and
Stone Circles ‘N’ You) to keep fans happily bemused. For new parents there’s also Queen/Mother, I’m
Your Daddy and Cryingbabiessleeplessnights to chew over. And there’s also the front cover image of 20 mothers
that includes Mrs Cope (second from right first row).
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