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Mi sono seduto sulla veranda.
Ho lasciato la porta di casa aperta per far entrare solo un pezzo di cielo stellato (il cielo enorme del texas subalpino)
E attendo.
L’apparizione di una silhouette, in una vecchia salopette di jeans.
O fasciata in una mini di satin, una gardenia e una sad song fra i capelli.
Dalla casa escono, una dopo l’altra, leggere e suadenti, le piccole storie circondate di suoni morbidi.
E quella voce delicata, striata di un’inquietudine segreta. Stasera così vicina da sembrare seduta al mio fianco.
Penso a quanto può durare un attimo di quiete, a quanta tempesta vuole annunciare. O è in grado di raccontare.
Penso alle attese.
Al desiderio di cambiare scenario con un semplice gesto.
Play.
E davanti agli occhi le soffocanti prospettive verticali della tua città cedono il posto alle distese di spazi aperti e sconfinati.
O alla magia di un luogo ignoto ma intimo.
Penso alla prima volta che ho letto di lei.
Una delle pagine più leggere e deliziose, colma di grazia surreale, tra le centinaia che ho sfogliato in Debaser.
Le impressioni racchiuse in quella pagina, in fondo, valgono anche per questo terzo disco di Jolie Holland.
Che non contiene, però, neppure un episodio di “quella vena di follia e di improvvisazione strampalata” che faceva capolino nel precedente Escondida.
Ma si muove, acustico e languido, con una lenta, densa intensità.
Disegnando il suo privatissimo paesaggio interiore, capace di proiettarne uno anche per me.
Qui, su questa veranda immaginaria, mentre attendo quella silhouette.
Cercando di indovinare quale versione, tra il country blues rivisitato e il soffice jazz fumoso, vedrò apparire.
Ma è probabile che, se mai dovesse arrivare, mi sorprenderà.
Indossando, con l’apparente semplicità che è una delle forme dell’’eleganza, una veste senza tempo.
Come le 12 canzoni di “Springtime Can Kill You”.
Jolie Holland : Guitar, Piano, Vocals, Arranger, Mixing, Art Direction, Whistle (Human), Producer
Carvill Wallace: Harmony Vocals
Ara Anderson: Horn (Baritone), Organ (Pump)
Brian Miller: Guitar, Percussion, Bass (Electric), Glockenspiel, Guitar (Electric), Fender Rhodes, Piano
Keith Cary: Tuba, Electric Upright Bass, Hawaiian Guitar, Bass (Upright), Lap Steel Guitar, Cello
Kare Klaire: Harmony Vocals
Olive Mitra: Bass (Electric)
Peter Musselman: Accordion, French Horn
Sonny Smith: Organ (Hammond)
David Dondero: Vocals
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Crush in the Ghetto (03:01)
I'm floating with the birds
I'm talking to the weeds
Look what you've done to me
I'm still dressed up from the night before
Silken hose and an old Parisian coat
And I feel like a queen at the bus stop on the street
Look what you've done to me
It's a beautiful morning in the ghetto
Finer than the day before
The ants are crawling over my pants as if to say
They know where the honey is
There's really old roses blooming in the ghetto
Birds of paradise are taller than me
The weeds grow high, the birds flicker by
Children are walking to school
In the midst of all of this profusion
The bus pulls up to take me back home
The bus driver looks like an African prince
The babies have tears in their eyes
And I feel like a queen
On this sunny city bus
Look what you've done to me
03 Springtime Can Kill You (02:48)
Go down the backroads
Don't take it too slow
You don't have the time for a long flirtation
You don't have the time for the least hesitation
Roses all are blooming
Lilacs all aglow
Honeysuckle vine shine shine
Oh get out, get out of your house
Springtime, springtime can kill you
Just like it did poor me
Don't you see we're all hurt the same way
So get out, get out of your house
High on the moonshine bodies entwine
Don't you see it's better this way
Don't you see it's better this way
You can't be too shy
You know the reason why
If you don't go get what you need
Something's going to break on the inside
Springtime, springtime can kill you
Just like it did poor me
Don't you see we're all hurt the same way
So get out, get out of your house
06 Stubborn Beast (04:06)
My sullen songs have taken me
Far down this darkened road
I have seen the campfires burning
I have heard the drunkards howl
I'm silent in my solitude
I'm quiet as a theif
I have stolen all these hours
I have gotten no relief
My crazy dreams and tragedies have taken me for a ride
But I can see strange glory on the other side
Oh this has been my misery and the source of my pride
But all along I'm thinking I've been taken for a ride
Why don't you take me when I'm willing
Why don't you take me when I'm willing
But like a stubborn beast when the barn is on fire
I might resist you when you try to save my life
I might resist you when you try to save my life
When the flames rise around us and I can't see the door
This is still my home and it has never burned before
This is where I've taken my solace and my peace
The walls are caving in but I am still a stubborn beast
Why don't you take me when I'm willing
Why don't you take me when I'm willing
07 Please Don't (02:29)
The twelfth day of never came faster than ever
For the likes of you and I
I used to adore you but now I implore you
To quietly pass me by
It's unseemly how I hate myself
I don't want anyone to see
Least of all someone like you
Who knows so much about me
Oh please don't tell 'em what you know about me
I can never be beholded to you
Our affairs are our own
Most of all for someone like me
Who is always alone
Oh please don't tell 'em what you know about me
08 Moonshiner (03:32)
Moonshiner, moonshiner
Pass it here one more time
Moonshiner, moonshiner
Pass it here one more time
You've got that good, hard stuff that always gets me high
You can break that ground and plant that field
Hole up in the backyard and work that still
You know we're gonna miss you around here
You've got that good, hard stuff,that always gets me high
Moonshiner, moonshiner
Why don't you come back home?
Now I got to drink this store-bought stuff and go to bed all alone
Moonshiner, moonshiner
Why don't you come back home to me?
By the time you get back, there's no telling where I'll be
I loved you in summertime, when we kissed goodbye
I loved you in the fall and I missed you all the time
I loved you in the winter, when you were far away
And the springtime almost killed me
With hot blood in my viens
Moonshiner, moonshiner
I know you're comin' back again
Moonshiner, moonshiner
Oh it's probably a sin, 'cause I'm down in the alley with my old drunk friend
Yes I'm down in the alley, with my old drunk friend
09 Ghostly Girl (03:34)
Ghostly girl
Too light to stand on the ground
Nothing you do is done
All I can tell
You are not real
Girl, what are you doing here
I don't know why I am here myself
No one else seems to know
Nobody likes a spook
Or so I've deduced
But I have loved some ghosts in my time
But that doesn't mean I want them around
I'd rather be lost than found
I thought I would loose my mind
But through your eyes I see
Past the billboards to the trees
And the flowering weeds
Grow throught the cracks of the city
And all these things will go
And all these seeds will grow
And you'll be home in the sky
10 Nothing to Do but Dream (07:24)
The sun's too bright
And the mountains are too far
And there's nowhere in town
I can get to in my broken car
I've got nowhere to go but to sleep
I would shut my eyes but I've got promises to keep
I can't go crazy and I can't get sane
And I don't want to leave-I'd just have to come back again
I've got nowhere to go but to sleep...
I remember, I remember something about who we were
I remember, I remember something about who we could be
I've had nothing to do for years but dream
I got reckless
And I broke my baby's rule
And I'm sick and restless
With the wandering blues
Cause most of my friends are gone down the line
And I'm sitting in town on the proceeds of my crimes
I've got nowhere to go but to sleep...
I took my sister to the river and I came back alone
And this sickness that's on me is settling in my bones
And my Daddy is suspicious but I know how he does
He won't find out about it till she's safe down in the mud
With nowhere to go but to sleep
I would follower her down but I've got promises to keep
I remember, I remember something about who we were
I remember, I remember something about who we could be
I've had nothing to do for years but dream
11 Adieu False Heart (02:36)
Adieu false heart, since we must part
May the joy of the world go with you
I've loved you long with a faithful heart
But I never anymore will I believe you
I've seen the time I'd have married you
And been your constant lover
But now I'll freely give you up
for one whose heart's more truer.
My mind is like the constant sun
From the east to the west it ranges
Yours is like unto the moon
It's every month a-changing
When I lay down to take my rest
No scornful morn to wake me
I'll go straight ways unto my grave
Just as fast as time can take me
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