Natalie: Hmm, I'd never heard of her until I bought 'Tears of Stone' and heard her version of 'The Lowlands of Holland', a song I like very much but her version is a little bland, I feel. I have a version by Geraldine McGowan which I much prefer. I imagine there are many other versions out there and I wonder why the Chieftains decided to use NM's version. Cynics may say that it was to extend their fan base to include people who buy music by Bonnie Raitt, Natalie, The Corrs and so on but I doubt this was the idea. I think it was probably because it was bland enough to allow the Chieftains to put their music 'over' it. I like 'Tears of Stone' very much (except for the dreadful 'Danny Boy' by Diana Krall) but have the feeling that these types of album, recorded separately in different studios on different continents at different times just don't come together as a complete idea. There seems to be a lack of 'spark' between the participants. Another example would be the B. B. King duets cd; nice to listen to but check out 'The Thrill is Gone' with Tracy Chapman. It is so untogether that I don't know what it has going for it except novelty value (it may be that these tracks were recorded with both people in the studio at the same time but it doesn't sound like it).
Which brings me to my second point, about singer songwriters. I think there is always something more personal in singing a song that you have written yourself. Nobody else knows the pain or joy that has caused someone to write a song and nobody but the author is able to express it in the same way as the writer. There are, of course, some caveats here: Firstly, I know there are many versions of great songs which ARE great in themselves, but this, I believe, is mostly a great musical performance rather than a great expression of the emotion in the song. Secondly, not all great songwriters are great singers and some people who write well and sing less well have been served well by better singers. Leonard Cohen, comes to mind here, especially the early songs. The more complex the content of the song, the more complex it is for other people to express it. Of course we must bear in mind that not all great singers have an idea in their head for a song and why should we deny Sinatra, Holliday, and so on a career? I think the analogy with film directors who write their own scripts is apt here. People like Woody Allen, Hal Hartley, Kurasawa, John Huston, not to mention many European directors (Truffaut, Godard, Rohmer, for example) some of whom write, direct (and frequently star in) their own movies. It seems to me to be a more complete expression of an idea. Not all directors can write and not all writers can direct but I tend to prefer films where the director writes his/her own script. Think of the Coens here. I can't imagine any other director doing 'Blood Simple', or 'Fargo', or 'Barton Fink'. OK, I can imagine it but I think it would be a poorer, and certainly a different film. That's my two pesetas on Natalie and Singer-Songwriters. mike in Barcelona np hejira - This is as good as joni gets, imho.
