Music and Sex
Taking this class has revealed that part of the fun of finding success is the struggle one has in claiming it. If everyone was good at something then no one would be noticed. However since certain people have that “magic” touch…that “Magic” something…they become famous and well known. Nothing yet has convinced me that women didn’t get to perform because they were women … it seems to me that they didn’t get to perform until they started trying to perform. When they first started trying to perform publicly … as with all things … there was a period of time where there is a struggle to get in. But if you “Got It” if you got the “Magic” then you are going to get in.
This segment started out with Bessie Smith – Yellow Dog Blues – one of the first female performers. She has a rough voice and the music sounds old. But she puts her heart into the song. You can see why she is still known and spoken about today. The thing about these books is that you don’t get to hear about how she was discovered and all the things that led up to her breaking through. This came up during a walk yesterday where there was a flower that had broken through the concrete and was reminded that what is meant to grow … will.
Ella Fitzgerald and Karen Carpenter did a great job in the video we were asked to watch. Everyone hears something different when they listen to a singer, for this one Karen Carpenter may have the most beautiful and amazing voice ever. It is so crystal clear and she sings such beautiful songs. Makes one wonder did she know how amazing her voice is or is that like trying to taste your own tongue? Like when you have a voice like that … do you know it? Cause there is no voice like hers, you know it is her when you hear it. In the video however Ella looks like she is about to fall over and go to sleep on the floor (sorry couldn’t help myself from commenting).
Reading about how women have had to use their sexuality to gain attention from this point of view is not just gender specific … men do it to … look at Elvis. Check out Prince (This is a great video about and of him and he is practically naked if it doesn’t make your body move nothing will lol and this is 1979 baby :o) or Moe Dirdee who pretty much has sex with you through some of his lyrics. If a woman is beautiful then it is a gift to be able to use that to bring in a crowd. Their sexuality sparks your own…well at least here it does. When I see someone that is comfortable in his or her sexuality then it sparks it in me. Like Shakira is one for me who is just such an amazing talent in writing, singing and performing on stage…some people just have it all and she seems to. And it is always super awesome when performers bring in the crowd in for something worth while. :o)
They say that hippies were able to use their sexuality and love of sex to draw in a crowd and that Janis is the one that started it and I wouldn’t even say she wasn’t stunning but she exuded something…maybe a sexuality or a liveliness that made you look deeper and it worked for her. Mostly I would say it was they way she sang.
Looking at more of the women like Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn who are obviously amazing talents … if you can catch either of their movies “Sweet Dreams” about Patsy and “Coal Miner’s Daughter” about Loretta, you would not be wasting your time really great stories of climbing out of tough situations … Walking after Midnight is one of those songs with so much heart and you know she had to have heartbreak to sing that way. Pat Benatar is another great performer … I remember her and Stevie Nicks and Blondie being the first women after Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn that made a huge impact on me. I didn’t know it at the time … because as a child I didn’t think in terms of “man” or “woman” it was just people … but they were the first female people that I began to dance to around the house, until it got annoying to my family and the sent me down to the basement, I still went and would put on my favorite long “Gypsy” skirt and twirl until they made me come up. I am glad to have missed the whole woman’s movement it sounds like it was an angry time one where there was having to pick sides and all that stuff so I am glad they cleared the air for my life to be lived. :o).
Reading about the Village People has been very informative. What an interesting group of guys and good for them to have the “balls” so to speak to stand out during a time that being gay was not accepted at all…even though “gay” has always been around throughout all time. Really what does it even matter (it won’t soon) who someone loves or has sex with. Why is it anyone else’s business beside the ones doing it? One of the questions that was raised for this topic was if there was a “Gay” mainstream artist…I don’t know if he is gay…but Mackelmore is singing right in line with where things have been being pointed towards lately and that is that we are all the SAME he calls it “Same Love” but I would just stick with SAME the word Love has to many meanings for people lol … at the Core of us, before our opinions and beliefs and likes and dislikes…we are the same and anyone and anything that is used to help another have this revealed is right on in my book. So Mackelmore has just put out this song and I guess it also speaks to people that have sex with the same sex…what are people that have sex with the same sex and then have sex with the opposite sex but still want it with the same sex called? What is someone who doesn’t have a sex? Like I have a female body, but I am not a man or a woman…so what does that make me? It is actually the same for everyone, I mean who will you be when the body is gone, who were you before you got one? Did you have a gender in that? :o) Food for thought.
Are we making new names up for everything we do for every moment we live and if so … I am happy to see that “Flower Children” is a word that is re-appearing they used to be a cultural group but then the word sort of disappeared but is being brought back because the people haven’t disappeared just the word.
Interesting reading about “Queen” they do have a fascinating story and did much for AIDS awareness. Loved, Loved, Love Boy George. He made me dance and dance and dance some more…he had such neat costumes and just seemed to pour out one hit after another. It was most certainly his time to shine. Too bad it all got messed up and fell apart. Had not ever heard of Bronski Beat…did all gay people come from London (just kidding). Had not ever heard that song either.
The link for the interview with Leslie Gore was broken so I didn’t watch that. I had heard the song “It’s my party” didn’t know that she was gay nor does it matter now … it seems so strange that because someone wants to be with someone of the same sex such a big deal is made out of it but again that won’t go on for much longer…things are shifting fast since it doesn’t change anything about the voice and how one sings as a people we seem to like to keep around the things that make us seem separate … Strange.
Also had not heard of Janis Ian though she sounds like a very interesting person and would like to know more about her when time permits.
There was more of a lively bunch in this weeks assignment and maybe sex does have a lot to do with it cause the “puritans” didn’t have much liveliness or experimental energy that seemed to come through in this week’s work. However there also isn’t much recorded from that time and I imagine that there were some people getting down even then or we won’t have kept up the population. It would have died off with everyone being so pure and saintly.
Maybe music is a form of sex. Hmmmm :o)
