The Long and the Short of It

I'm always impressed by the ability to pull off a long song. Mostly because I usually don't like them, so when I do, it's exciting. The new Jenny Lewis, Acid Tongue, is very 60s and 70s, more accessible to me than her first solo album, but with a wacky, Hollywood-girl edge (intensified by a lot of Zooey Deschanel on backing vocals). My favorite song is "The Next Messiah." It appears to be about someone's (Jenny's?) father, a roguish character who lives in the woods "with a cocktail waitress/who things she's an artist" and who survives cancer, and is a "chancer." etc. It's got a "Tobacco Road vibe, and evolves into different sections and tempos, and ends with what sounds like a choir of Zooeys singing "I want...to...tell you I love you!" PS, I found an interview with Jenny where she says "It's an ode to Barbra Streisand and the devil."

When I heard "The Next Messiah," I was reminded of another longie about roguish lovers, Judy Henske's "Snowblind," which my friend Erica Smith covers to brilliant effect on her album of the same name. It also tells a longish tale from the POV of a knowing narratress, and takes you on a scary trip and flings you out the other end wonderfully. As with Jenny's record, but in a more folky and jazzy way, Erica and band are going for bits and pieces of old styles but making them their own. Her voice is deeply pure. I love the whole shebang -- from the amazing Dann Baker's just-right guitar parts to Annie Sommers' pink-and-black abstract cover art, which looks like something I would fall in love with at MOMA.

And speaking of Dann Baker, he and Erica and another friend, Dan Sallitt, played the Saturday Afternoon Song Swap (an in-the-roundy thing I'm involved with in NJ) on 11.8. Dann did a long song too...it was about Raymond Chandler, and it was ten minutes, but he split it into three segments. Here's Paula's video of the first section.

Man, I realize now I've mogged about long songs before...funny thing is my absolute favorite song right now is "Magick" off the new Cardinals, and it's under two minutes.