songs about relentless love and sex and the grace that comes after

11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Americana, ROCK: Acoustic



Details:
New Randy = music: Lisa B. Burns + lyrics: Holly Anderson
bass: Sal Maida
Holly Anderson's work is included in the collection
'Up is Up But So Is Down' New York's Downtown Literary Scene 1974-1992 NYU Press Oct.2006 ...'But these writers aren't just letting it blurt. There's a formal elegance and inventiveness to many works, epitomized by Holly Anderson's marvelously concrete 'Color Stories'...
Village Voice.

...'There are surprises,too-like Holly Anderson, who writes haiku-like prose poems of delicate lyricism trapped in crossword grids. Each letter is separated from the others as if imprisoned, evoking both the density and the loneliness of the city,and challenging the reader to make "sense" of the lapidary inscriptions.'
New York Times Book Review Nov.2006

"Women's lust is different from men's lust in a million ways. Being desired is a turn-on for women; men are captivated by indifference. Women respond to words; men like pictures. Women are cyclical; men are almost always on. Women are this, men are that... We could go on and on -- and yet, when you search the rock 'n' roll archives for songs about screwing from the female perspective, the pickings are mighty thin. And so we come to New Randy, a raunchy glimpse through the female lens, written by Lisa B. Burns and Holly Anderson, both accomplished artists, neither in the first blush of youth, about their long and happy experiences.

Burns has a wonderfully distinctive voice -- child-like one moment, blues-growling the next. A cappella, as she sings on "Honeymoon", she has an almost old-time Appalachian
sound, but she can rock, too, on harder-hitting songs like "Stripling" and "The Clouds Flew Away Like Birds".
Anderson, a poet who has written lyrics for Mission of Burma and Consonant, pens the words. Here she lets loose with some very strong metaphors -- and some silly ones. Comparing lovers to a monkey (the man) and a tree (the woman) in "Monkey" feels a little strained, though the accompanying music is among the album's best. "Wildnights" is far stronger, with lines like "We rode to heaven on a velvet sea / and I prayed to stars as you covered me," plus a spoken word meditation on the physics of sex.

The best song, musically and lyrically, is "Girls All Night Long Might Sing", a celebration of the sexual power of young girls, all blistering beauty as they share dirty glasses of beers and throw their bolts of blue lightning at boys. Enjoy it while you can, and then enjoy what comes afterward, seems to be the message here. It comes from two women who, as they say in "The Clouds Flew Away Like Birds", never thought that was too much to wish for. What is that? Everything to do with sex and love and life and happiness.

If you're young and taking love too seriously, if you're old and giving up on it, if you're a guy who can't figure out women, if you're a woman who's not sure how strange you are, you could probably learn something from New Randy. Sure, it's home-made... all the good stuff is. "

-- Jennifer Kelly
Splendid ezine
10-24-05


Q. What happens when a blue-eyed writer and a dark-haired singer conjure Sappho drinking vodkas in a neighborhood bar?

A. They write New Randy songs

recording: Arthur Lamonica, guitars trk 11: Chris Brokaw drums: Dylan Maida