I will check it out but you reminded me by posting the video that Jon King of Gang Of Four is the only act I have that I know I hear melodica in and a good amount. To get this back to Wilco, I actually was going to pass on this album cause I just don't have time and I'd come back on Summerteeth but I should at least check out this one track from Mermaid Avenue and maybe it will suck me in. I never heard 'Mermaid Avenue'.
Ever hear the Iron & Wine version of that? One of my faves though I give credit to the original sorry to thread jack!!
You should at least give the first Mermaid a chance ... we have hit some great songs already but are now about to embark on the great ending of the album with Mrs. Rancher’s favorite Hesitating Beauty and our tied joint favorite, Unwelcome Guest
Sorry I've been out of this thread, but it looks like "Hesitating Beauty" is up next and man oh man is that ever one of my favorites. Maybe the most charming thing Wilco ever put their name on. So good.
I’m with you! I put it number 2 to Unwelcome Guest, but as I said above it has been my wife’s favorite from the day we bought it!!
"Eisler on the Go" is also a great song; again, I observe that Bragg seems a lot more wedded to folk styles than Wilco does. The blend of more traditional folk idiom with Wilco's distinctive brand of midwestern rock makes for a good mix.
Okay: Hesitating Beauty 'Hesitating Beauty' is an out and out love song from Woody and Jeff set those words to a very pretty, very friendly melody. Yes, 'charming' seems to be exactly the right word for this one. The name 'Nora Lee' was shared by both Woody Guthrie's wife and his daughter, which makes this feel all the more personal from him. This is an interesting twist on the classic trope of the man being the one dragging his feet about commitment. Here, the man is the one who wants to get hitched and Nora Lee is the one who hesitates. His quest to win her heart finds him singing about the beautiful life they can build together: We can ramble hand in hand Across the grasses of our land I'll kiss you for each leaf on every tree We can bring our kids to play Where the dry winds blow today If you'll quit your hesitating, Nora Lee I'm very happily married myself, so this one rings very true for me. It's a really sweet song and the music is just perfect for the words. Rambling and highly endearing. A great one!
For me as we go through these songs Woody Guthrie is really revealed to be a lyrical genius. The fact that these Different songwriters musicians can derive so many different kinds Of songs from this one lyricist: political, vulnerable, tender, strident, angry sad, funny, loving. Human. It blows me away. His spirit shines through and looms larger with each song.
I agree with you. Woody's words are absolutely sensational through this whole project and show so many different sides of the man. It's really too bad that he's kind of been reduced to a single song and a few anecdotes.
'Hesitating Beauty' was an early favorite of mine, from when I was coming into Wilco's through the americana lens. Now, of course, a lot of songs in the Mermaid Avenue project (and beyond) have upstaged it. But I had a blast listening to it this morning, in anticipation of its turn in this thread. It’s so easy going, so tender, so smooth, so effortless ! The way Jeff sings this is just perfection, he sounds relaxed, intimate, like there’s nothing to it. He doesn’t try to sound like the father/husband who wrote the words, he sounds like the surrogate little brother/grand son who sings them many years later. Exactly like he should.
I'm sure Hesitating Beauty will get plenty of love, and I'll chime in with my appreciation. Both lyrically and musically it's a gorgeous song. It's yet another example of many from this project where I am in awe of the superb instrumentation and arrangement. Perfect!
Hesitating Beauty has been one of my Mermaid favorites since first spin. great lyrics by Woody, as discussed above, and a nice breezy and folky jaunt that works perfectly
"Hesitating Beauty" is a bit of a miss for me, especially in comparison to the incredible "One By One". The lyrics are very pretty but sort of embody the entire "myth of marriage" thing that has always rang false to me. The music, I will say, is a perfect match to the lyric and illustrates just how miraculous this entire "marriage" of Bragg, Wilco, and Guthrie was. This one is okay but would rank near the bottom on the album for me, especially among just the Wilco tracks.
"Hesitating Beauty"- I love it! Sweet lyrics and Jeff wrote such a beautiful melody for them. 5/5 We can build a house and home Where the flowers come to bloom Around our yard I'll nail a fence so high That the boys with peeping eyes Cannot see that angel face Of my hesitating beauty, Nora Lee
I've written a bit about my first Wilco show, 10/14/2002 at the 9:30 Club. During "Hesitating Beauty," Leroy Bach went missing from the stage. Rather than skip his solo, "Leroy's big moment," as Jeff put it, the band just ran through the chord changes several times until Leroy made it back onstage. Jeff updated Leroy on what he had missed, and where they were in the song. Leroy strapped on his guitar and jumped right into his solo and that was that. John asked, "What's with the band-aids, man?" Apparently Leroy had cut himself during the show and ran backstage to find band-aids. Jeff joked that Leroy had **** his pants, and then the band went into "California Stars" to close the set. They came back out for an encore performance led by one of the earliest playings of "Less Than You Think."
"One By One" A particular favorite of mine. I just like the mood, the atmosphere on this track. I would seem as though the words and the music were written as one. Really nice performance by Jeff too. "Eisler On The Go" A pleasant little track. I almost get the impression that I've heard this melody somewhere before. It's an interesting lyric, and I suppose that the melody does seem like the right fit; just reading the words without the music, the melody almost writes itself. But I always like to hear Billy sing these types of songs.
"Hesitating Beauty" This one has a fairly straightforward approach, a pure country/folk workout. There isn't anything here that stands out for me, just a decent little tune.
I don't think there is any myth about marriage. For myself, I love the lyrics. I actually think it is very difficult to find songs that speak maturely and positively about marriage in popular music. That makes this rare and refreshing for me.
I'm glad it works for you. What I mean by "myth" is the whole starry-eyed, find-your-perfect-soulmate, happily-ever-after concept that I think too many kids are sort of indoctrinated with (and probably accounts for high divorce rates). Perhaps a better term for it is "unrealistic ideal". Joni Mitchell always did a great job of exploding this ideal - I think of her lines in "Song For Sharon" about the "white lace I was chasing" - and presenting it as something more realistic. I may not be nearly as cynical as her, but I definitely skew more toward her perspective. For me, this lyric bears hallmarks of the unrealistic ideal I'm referring to. I mean, Woody Guthrie himself was married three times. I guess I prefer songs that deal more with the messier realities of love and marriage.
Like, "by the stars and clouds above we can spend our lives in love" is pretty much the unrealistic ideal, in one line. And then he vows to lock her away from the outside world: "We can build a house and home where the flowers come to bloom/ Around our yard I'll nail a fence so high/ That the boys with peeping eyes cannot see that angel face." Maybe that's why Nora Lee is hesitating, eh?
"You'll live here in luxury for the rest of your life"! I don't mean to discount the sweet sentiments expressed in the lyrics...but maybe Nora Lee knew something!
Not to be too off topic but I don't think Joni was totally cynical. She was nothing if not a hopeless romantic and lover of love. She did get married again after Song for Sharon, so she wasn't totally down on the institution. She just also really loved her freedom. I don't think the Guthrie lyric is perfect by any stretch (it is idealized for sure) but I'm still glad to have the song. If we are talking about writers who write realistically about good marriage, I actually think Mr. Jeff Tweedy is one of the best.
I was actually debating before my post whether the song was about a creep - we all know how misinterpreted the famous Every Breath You Take is, and that line about the fence caught my ear. But the lyric is from a different era when a man was supposed to protect and provide for "his" woman, and I decided to take it in that way. But filtered through today's sensibilities it certainly carries rather different connotations, and given the writer I certainly wouldn't bet two cents that I'm correct.
