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My poetry mentor Diane Wakoski taught me to write poems that bring unlike things together. At all costs, avoid clichés, such as comparing tears with rain, or love with fire. She showed that it is far more affecting when a poem like Wallace Stevens' "The Snow Man" connects things in surprising ways, like winter and a person's mind, as that poem does. I think good poems make you feel two things: 1) I never thought of that before, and yet 2) I always knew that, maybe I forgot it, but I've known it somewhere, sometime.
That's really the theme behind this blog: bringing things together, not that I always think about that when I post.
Two years ago when I first heard about Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin doing a musical collaboration with country/folk singer Alison Krauss I was intrigued by the pairing and wanted to buy the album, titled Raising Sand. I hadn't been excited about Led Zeppelin when they were on the radio in my teenage years, but when my son Peter learned to play guitar in the '90s, Led Zeppelin was one of his favorites, and I found myself rocking along to "That's the Way" or "Ramble On" through his discovery. So in 2007 I loved the idea of rock star Plant and country singer Krauss (that even my punk daughter listened to) singing together. I never listened to or bought the Plant-Krauss album when it came out, even though you can listen to the whole thing at their web site here - so nice. But finally about a month ago I heard it and was blown away by one of the songs: "Gone, Gone, Gone." So, as I was downloading it and putting together a mixed CD, I had the Genius Sidebar open and it was suggesting other duets, two of which I also downloaded. It would be nice to have a whole album pairing singers from different genres. Ha, I speak out of ignorance - even though rauf, Loring and João try to educate me about music. There are probably dozens of captivatingly unexpected duet albums out there, and I am going to hear about them in comments.
Pour yourself a cuppa coffee, or tea. Plug in the good speakers. Put your feet up. Relax and listen. You need some music. Rockabilly. And Blues.
"Gone, Gone, Gone" by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss is my favorite song at the moment. NOTE: Robert Plant is wonderfully "Zepellin-esque" in the studio album version in the link above, so I like it a bit better than the live version below. It's cute though, if you watch the video below closely you can see Krauss do a little Zepellin-esque thing toward the end, as if she's imitating her co-singer.
The second song Genius recommended was JJ Cale and Eric Clapton singing and playing the blues in "Ride the River." It would be a blast to ride the river in a boat with these two, I could paddle since they'd have their hands full of guitars and mics.
The third song Genius recommended was another duet with Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits and country singer Emmylou Harris singing as a couple who look at their life through a photo album in "This is Us." Here they are on the Letterman Show, and it's fun to watch them sing to each other, but I like the studio recording that follows a bit better here too. Emmylou sounds a wee bit flat in the live version. But what a cool voice she has.
Here's the studio version of the same song:
Had you heard these songs before? Are there other cool duets to add to an unexpected duets mixed CD?
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