>Bob
I wanted to include a Joni Mitchell song on my first CD partially as a tribute and
partially as an introduction of my own songs to JM fans.
I also wanted to include a gay love song and there are lots of gay JM fans out there.
My version is pretty unusual for gay men's music arena which tends to be club/dance
music, cabaret/show tunes or comedy so I thought this would strike a chord- something
simple, honest, direct. You may know about John Kelly who does a kind of amazing drag
show where he dresses up as Joni and sings in this amazingly high voice. (see the film
WIGSTOCK to hear John sing Woodstock to thousands in NY City).
Willy was one of the few songs that leant itself to a gay treatment. I love doing
Jericho in bars but it comes out as more generic love song lyrically. With
Willie(sp.), I only change one word at the beginning. There isn't really another JM
song that lends itself to this kind of interpretation.
On my CD, it's placed at the end of my own songs which I think tend to be much darker
and so it felt like a bit of springtime when we placed it there. The last song- the
very short Winter Wishes - is like a quiet "say goodnight" encore and I wrote that
song to be just that and use it when I perform.
Finally, I love the lines:
But you know it's hard to tell
When you're in the spell
If it's wrong or if it's real
But your bound to lose
If you let the blues
Get you scared to feel
I wished I'd written that!
_____________________________________________
Richard Isen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Clearsong Records
. . .because a song is like a good companion.
please visit http://www.clearsong.com
