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"...se l'amore fosse un treno mi butterei sui binari..."
Così canta Karen Michelle Johnston in "If Love was a Train".
Michelle Shocked è nome d'arte che deriva dall'espressione "shell shocked", usata dai soldati reduci dal fronte che soffrono di sindromi post-belliche.
Nata a Dallas, ma cresciuta in Texas, da un padre carpentiere e mormone e da una madre che all'età di 22 anni la fa rinchiudere in manicomio: l'amore viscerale per l'arte, il rock in particolare, per la chitarra e la poesia, e soprattutto l'impegno politico antimilitarista si pagano a caro prezzo in alcune famiglie, dove puritanesimo e "Dio, Patria e Famiglia" sono valori unici ed assoluti.
"Short Shaped Shocked" esce nel 1988 e segue di due anni "The Texas Campfire Tapes" che fu pubblicato come una sorta di bootleg dopo che il giornalista Pete Lawrence lo registrò con un walkman Sony durante il Kerrville Folk Festival. Michelle era tra il pubblico con tanto di chitarra ed armonica e faceva ascoltare ad alcuni astanti queste sue composizioni.
"The Texas Campfire Tapes" ebbe una vasta eco di critica in Europa e nel Regno Unito in particolare (Lawrence è inglese) ed io la ricordo in una emozionante apparizione nel programma "DOC" di Renzo Arbore dove si suonava rigorosamente "live".
E se i "Campfire Tapes", fra rombi di camion e frinire di grilli in sottofondo, si rivelano illuminanti circa il talento di Michelle, con "Short Shaped Shocked" siamo già al capolavoro: folk, blues, rock e bluegrass sono meravigliosamente padroneggiati in queste composizioni dalla Shocked. E cosa dire dei testi: poesia pura. Evocativi e spesso autobiografici ("Memories of East Texas"), si sposano perfettamente con melodie cristalline. "Anchorage" è addirittura da brividi.
Un gruppo di ottimi musicisti la accompagnano al banjo, all'hammond, al violino e quant'altro. Il risultato è un album senza tempo: fresco ed attuale ancora oggi a vent'anni dalla sua pubblicazione. L'America passa anche da queste parti, fortunatamente.
Io amo spassionatamente questo disco e credo di rendere giustizia a Michelle Shocked della quale non vi era traccia alcuna su DeBaser.
"...se l'amore fosse un treno mi butterei sui binari... mi lancerei dritta sui binari..."
Grazie di tutto, Michelle.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 When I Grow Up (03:34)
When I grow up I want to be an old woman
When I grow up I want to be an old woman
Oh, an o-o-o-o-old, an old, old woman
Then I think I'm gonna find myself an old man
Then I think I'm gonna marry myself that old man
An old, an old, an old, an old, a really old man
We're gonna have a hundred and twenty babies
A hundred and five, ten, fifteen, twenty babies
Uh huh, that's what I said a hundred and twenty babies
We'll raise 'em on tiger's milk and green bananas
Mangoes and coconuts and watermelon
We're gonna give 'em that watermelon when they starts yellin'
Here's what they'll yell...
In the summer we'll sit in a field and watch the sun melt
In the winter we'll sit by a fire and watch the moon freeze
Me my old man and a hundred and twenty babies
Me my old man and a hundred and twenty babies
I said, me my old man and a hundred and twenty babies
Oh, when I grow up I want to be an old woman
When I grow up I want to be an oooooold...
07 Anchorage (03:24)
I took time out to write to my old friend
I walked across that burning bridge
Mailed my letter off to Dallas
But her reply came from Anchorage, Alaska
She said:
"Hey girl, it's about time you wrote
It's been over two years you know, my old friend
Take me back to the days of the foreign telegrams
And the all-night rock and rollin'... hey Shell
We was wild then
Hey Shell, you know it's kind of funny
Texas always seemed so big
But you know you're in the largest state in the union
When you're anchored down in Anchorage
Hey Girl, I think the last time I saw you
Was on me and Leroy's wedding day
What was the name of that love song they played?
I forgot how it goes
I don't recall how it goes
Anchorage
Anchored down in Anchorage
Leroy got a better job so we moved
Kevin lost a tooth now he's started school
I got a brand new eight month old baby girl
I sound like a housewife
Hey Shell, I think I'm a housewife
Hey Girl, what's it like to be in New York?
New York City - imagine that!
Tell me, what's it like to be a skateboard punk rocker?
Leroy says "Send a picture"
Leroy says "Hello"
Leroy says "Oh, keep on rocking, girl"
"yeah, keep on rocking"
Hey Shell, you know it's kind of funny
Texas always seemed so big
But you know you're in the largest state in the union
When you're anchored down in Anchorage
Oh, Anchorage
Anchored down in Anchorage
Oh, Anchorage
08 The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore (04:10)
When I was a curly headed baby
My daddy set me down on his knee
Saying "Son you go to school, you learn your letters
Don't you be no dusty miner boy like me"
C: I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
I used to think my daddy was a black man
With scrip enough to buy the company store
But now he goes to town with empty pockets
And Lord his face as white as February snow
C: I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
(Break)
Never thought I'd live to learn to love the coal dust
Never thought I'd pray to hears those tipple roar
But God I wish the grass would turn to money
And them greenbacks would fill my pockets once more
C: I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
Last night I dreamed I went down to the office
To get my payday like I done before
But them old Kudzu vines was covered up the doorway
And there was leaves and grass growing right up through the floor
C: I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in rusty row of all empties
Because the L&N don't stop here anymore
10 Black Widow (02:44)
Time is red
Time is deadly
Time under glass
Time will tell
Time will tell
The tale of the widow
Who walks her web
Mourning the night
Mourning the dead
Mourning the dead
Aw, did you lose him to a broom
Trapped in a corner of the room
Or was it under the foot
Of the marching black boot
The marching black boot
Is it the loneliness of night
That makes you reach out and bite
The unawakened flesh
You lady in distress
Oh you poor poor suffering
Murderess
Time is red
Time is deadly
Time under glass
Time will tell
Time will tell
Time will tell
Time will tell
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