Rickie Lee Jones.

[kiki]

I'm drunk, and somebody better recognise the god damn songwriting genius of Rickie Lee Jones right now, or I'm crackin' skulls. *burp*

[WCGreen]

1. Well, if you put it that way......

She's a fucking genius....

Misunderstood by her piers....

[kiki]

3. Really?

What's the story with that then?

(And yes, she is, obviously.)

[WCGreen]

5. No air play....

Nadda, nothing....

Back in the 70's, everyone loved her, talked about her in the same breathe as Paul Simon.....

And then Patty Smith came around.....

Well, she became the toast of the Avant Gaurde set and as you know in tha misogunistic world, there is only room for one woman at a time....

[kiki]

6. Screw those assholes.

Raaargh! Told you I'm drunk.

Seriously, when did anything genuinely intelligent and original receive popular acclaim?

[Fenris]

19. Not exactly

Patti Smith's first album "Horses" came out 4 years before Rickie Lee Jones' debut. You've got your times backwards, mate.

[kiki]

22. Fight! Fight!

:popcorn:

[WCGreen]

24. I'm looking back through the fog of time...

Should have checked my theory at AMG...

But you know as well as I do the New York Underground just didn't warm up so well to women.....

[kiki]

28. Is tha true?

Off the top of my head I can think of Tina Weymouth, Laurie Anderson and Debbie Harry... although obviously three women does not a prevailing attitude make...

[WCGreen]

32. Only Laurie Anderson was by herself...

Of course Debra Harry was the front person for the group...

But if you take a look at the scene, it's predominately men...

That to me is the only grace of the late 90's early 00's...

The dominance of women all over the place in rock, pop and even Country....

And it's legitmate....

I think it was an extension of the Beat Scene that dominated the cool of Greenwich village far past the time when Jack and Dean were be boppin across the country but calling the village home....

I was just guessing about the Rickie part. I always liked her music, but it is her voice that drives me to distraction....

[kiki]

37. Well, if your theory is correct...

...then my original sentiment of "Screw those assholes" stands.

Apart from David Byrne, who I'm sure was always a lovely chap.

RLJ is a poet. She breathes ideas in your ear in a way that makes others sound like they are using a sledgehammer.

(I already told you I'm looking for writing work. PM me for a CV!)

And yes, her voice is quite distracting.

[progmom]

2. i adore adore adore her

she is brilliant. there was a time when she and i were internet pals. she even called me in the hospital when my son was born.

so yeah - you're right. she is great!

[kiki]

4. Argh - you lucky duck.

If you see her again, ask her if she'd ever marry a skinny ass 31-year-old who appreciates her genius...

[progmom]

7. ha ha ha ha

i'll make sure to do that. :)

[kiki]

9. Don't make me sound desperate. n/t

[progmom]

11. sure thing.

a skinny 31 year-old non desperate person who appreciates her genius. ;)

[jandrok]

8. "Pirates" was a freaking excellent album.

Also, unfortunately, her high water mark commercially, after her breakout hit on the previous disk.

I've always liked her, but she seems to be a little too obtuse to the general public. Her music has taken some interesting turns over the years.

[kiki]

13. Listening to that bad boy right now...

If you listen to the three best songs in a row - "Pirates", "Lucky Guy", and "Western Slopes" - you feel like you've watched an entire movie.

(Edited for pedantry)

[jandrok]

20. Yeah, the whole disk has a cinematic feel to it.

Good storytelling does the trick. I listened to that album a lot when it came out lo the many years ago. I used to pair it up with Kate Bush's "The Dreaming" for a real head trip.

"Pirates" is really a gorgeous album.

[kiki]

21. Kate also rules.

I used to think "Cloudbusting" was the most imaginative, inspired song... then I discovered it was about the orgone guy, which spoiled it for me a bit.

As if having fantasies about your dad being the orgone guy wasn't wierd enough.

[jandrok]

23. Heheheh Yeah, Kate was definitely different.

"Hounds of Love" was her biggest album in the States, but she was HUGE in Britain both before and after that disk.

Her earlier stuff is the best. "The Dreaming" is the most eclectic piece of modern music that I have ever heard. It's completely unclassifiable. There has never been anything else like it. But some of her other stuff is ge=reat, too. "Hounds" is certainly worth it's high praise, and "Never for Ever" is good, too.

[kiki]

27. Have you heard...

...the cover version of "Hounds of Love" that's out in the UK by a band called The Futureheads? I generally don't like much that comes out these days but it's pretty good. It's a bunch of very "oi"-sounding British lads singing this quite sensitive, vulnerable song... pretty cool.

[jandrok]

29. No, but thanks for the tip.

I'll have to check it out. I like cover songs that do something new with the original concept rather than just being a rote copy of the source material.

[kiki]

31. Well, musically

they also turn the "Doo doo doo" bit from the chorus into a sort of repetitive chant that goes throughout the whole song.

[jandrok]

38. I'll have to check it out.

I like that kinda stuff.

[DS1]

10. never heard of her

:hide:

[progmom]

12. jackass

:loveya:

[kiki]

15. That's not her problem.

;)

[pamela]

14. I love her.

My favorite song of hers is "Last Chance Texaco."

[kiki]

17. Ah yes...

...the ultimate expression of the "women/cars" metaphor, with a folky, feminist slant...

(Yes, I am looking for writing work)

[madeline_con]

16. Chuck E's in Love...

Christ, I think he's even combed his hair....

[kiki]

18. Was that her only single?

Presumably it was...

[madeline_con]

25. Beats me...

the words came unbidden to mind...

[progmom]

26. no, she had others.

The Real End was used in a lot of movies and enjoyed some airplay, for example.

[gardenista]

34. Is that her, what's her name, oh, it's never gonna be the same..

[progmom]

36. that's not her, i know what's wrong!

cause chuck e's in love with the little girl that's singing this song!

[kiki]

40. And he's in love with... Rickie Lee Jones!

I've never seen the lyrics written down, and I only scanned that bit of the lyrics recently, and realised the point of the whole song. I felt like a right dumbass.

[gardenista]

41. Chills!

She is still amazing. Ever heard her version of "Show Biz Kids", or anything from "It's Like This"?

[kiki]

45. No, and no.

I suck at hunting down music.

[progmom]

48. absolutely

you would be hard pressed to find a bigger RLJ fan than me. that was a great version - better than the original, if you ask me. :D

[dajoki]

30. i like her...

but haven't heard her in a while. :applause:

[gardenista]

33. Downstairs, in Danny's all-star joint, they got a jukebox that goes

doik doik.

or at least I think it was doik doik...

I bow to her genius, and to your excellent taste.

So do you think you ought to lie down now?

[progmom]

35. doit doit, i think

finger snapping deluxe to make your be-bop bap and your r&b go hep scat...

[gardenista]

43. Wow, good scat translation! I never got the fingersnappindelux before!

my be-bop be bappin.

[kiki]

42. Actually it's "doit doit"...

...which more or less rhymes with "joint".

When the kid says "I ain't got no dough, Joe", I always imagine a wandering martial artist saying "I ain't got no dojo".

But perhaps that's just me.

[gardenista]

44. That's so funny!

:rofl:

what an image!

[kiki]

46. I ain't got no dojo, I just want some OJ."

Crazy wandering orange-juice-obsessed samurai!

[gardenista]

49. ROFL! Scuse me while I kiss this guy! nt

[progmom]

50. and i said "don't look at me" cause he was looking my way!

[gardenista]

54. Ok, and the rest is

and keer your feets streets cuz you know idza bar and put bidness in your pocket, mista, that's where it belongs!

[progmom]

55. um

keep your feet in the street
your toes in the lawn
but keep your business in your pocket
cause that's where it belongs

[gardenista]

58. Aha!

:lightbulb:

On edit, my poor attempt at a smilie, but my smilies must be on strike!

Well, I guess I'll be buying a CD tomorrow. I still have the album someplace...

[kiki]

59. Y'all forgot the bit

about the kid puttin' a quarter in the pinbawl machine...

[kiki]

56. Kicking my own thread, but...

...if any of you clever RLJ fans is still listening, I have a question:

Is there a reference to William Burroughs in "Western Slopes" (I confess, this is probably part of a larger question on my part in the vein of "What the fuck is 'Western Slopes' all about")? The bit that goes:

Madmen throw their voices
From pretty boys
And from the best ones
You pick up connections
As they hand you your directions
To the Western Slopes

all sounds a bit Burroughs... seedy scenes with "pretty boys", ideas about "picking up connections", and are the "Western Slopes" a reference to Burroughs' "Western Lands"?

Or am I full of shit?

Answers on a postcard.

[On the Road]

39. Her Debut Album Was One of the Best Popular Releases Ever

as far as I'm concerned. She was able to do such a variety of styles. I am a sucker for her emotional songs like "Company" -- that one song kept me from walking out on my ex.

[gardenista]

47. That song is devestating.

The one I turned to during many a twentysomething heartbreak.

Soon to be followed by "Last Chance Texaco"

:cry:

[progmom]

51. and Skeletons

"and he go for his wallet, but they thought that he was going for his gun, and the cops blew Bird away...."

[gardenista]

52. Oh, that's right.

:cry:

Ok, now I have to go listen to some jigs or something to get me out of a RLJ genius induced pending funk.

[kiki]

53. It's no "Lucky Guy"...

...but it's a good song. It's bordering on cheesy, bascially an intelligent lounge number; but I like people who can do more with "mainstream"-sounding stuff than less talented types can do with really experimental, "alternative"-sounding stuff.

Like Stanley Kubrick. He made some quite "alternative" films - "Dr Strangelove", "Clockwork Orange" - but the ones I like are just horror films, sci-fi films, period drama, war films. But they're really good ones.

[kiki]

57. Kicking my own thread, but...

(pasted from above... meant to reply to the main thread. And I REALLY want to know if anyone knows anything about this.)



...if any of you clever RLJ fans is still listening, I have a question:

Is there a reference to William Burroughs in "Western Slopes" (I confess, this is probably part of a larger question on my part in the vein of "What the fuck is 'Western Slopes' all about")? The bit that goes:

Madmen throw their voices
From pretty boys
And from the best ones
You pick up connections
As they hand you your directions
To the Western Slopes

all sounds a bit Burroughs... seedy scenes with "pretty boys", ideas about "picking up connections", and are the "Western Slopes" a reference to Burroughs' "Western Lands"?

Or am I full of shit?

Answers on a postcard.

[NNadir]

60. I can't think of anything she's done that I didn't love.

I love her covers too. "My Funny Valentine" has to be one of the best versions ever, and it's a widely covered song.