The Search is Over

Okay, I realize I am delinquent again in my blogging.  Bad, bad Becky...  I have no excuse.  In fact, I blog for my company every week -- four blogs in fact.  I think that's why I get so pooped out by the time I get home.  What's funny is that I started that part of my job because of this blog, so...  I better get back to this!

Anyway, I have wanted to write about Survivor's "The Search is Over" for quite some time.  It is truly a beautiful song, and the more I listen to it, the more I like it.  I thought the lead singer had written it, but it turns out that Jim Peterik did.  I didn't know much about Jim, so I did a bit of research.  Of course, I came across his Facebook page and several photos with Mindi Abair, which made me very jealous.  I am a single reed player, too, but I will probably never have the chance to hob-nob with rock royalty like she does now.  Alas, I will get over my jealousy.  There's still time.  Ann Wilson plays flute, and I work for a flute company, so...

Anyway, back to the song.  Can you believe that for the longest time, I had the wrong lyrics in my head?  Yeah, amazing, I know.  Just kidding.  I think by now we all know that this often times happens to me.  In this tune, I always thought at the chorus Jamison sang, "I was living for Audrey...."  I thought, "Well, who's Audrey?"  Then, I realized it was, "I was living for a dream..."  A ha!  The search was over for the lyrics!  Now it all made sense.  The song is about a man who is searching for love just about all over the place when it really was in front of him the whole time.  Yup, he had a very good female friend whose love and devotion he took for granted so to say.  He really considered her to be "just a friend" and not a "girlfriend."  Finally, he realized she was "the one," and the search was over!  Just like that!  And, even to this very moment in time, I find myself correcting another lyric.  Yup -- "taking on the world...that was just my style."  I always thought the lyric was "taking our love away...that was just my style."  Wow.  Living for Audrey and taking our love away?  Sheesh.  I'm glad I listened to this a few more bazillion times.  I hope, at least, that I have listened to it more times than the man in the song searched for love...

Heart on Tour...and Barracuda

So, I'm not sure if they just announced this, but Heart posted their summer tour dates on their website.  You can see them at http://www.heart-music.com/tourdates.html.  I was SO excited to see this, and I am wishing that I still lived in Indiana so that I could see them in Hammond.  Oh well... Maybe I will make a special trip out there this summer, because I would absolutely love to see them live.  Pat Benatar will be playing somewhat nearby where I am now on April 21st -- so I will have to decide if I can get out to that show (Rhode Island is kind of closeby).  Anyway, in honor of Heart, I wanted to share "Barracuda."  This is one of my all-time favorite Heart tunes.  It is just so terrific.  I love the cranking guitar line and Ann Wilson's unbelievably powerful voice.  If you read the history behind the song, you'll find out that it is about a man--well, sort of.  It's not about some cheating ex-boyfriend or anything like that.  No, it's about the dirty, sleazy press and how they tried to make people think that Ann and her sister Nancy were "lovers."  Oh please...that is sad, low, pathetic.  Yeah, just like a barracuda.  Nevertheless, this song could really be about anything.  I am SURE that they could put any lyrics to the music and it would be a virtual rock and roll explosion.  I've included two versions of the video here--one from 1977 and one from 2002 (live in Seattle).  I know the original was from the '70s and not the '80s, but that is alright because Heart has been rockin' through many decades, and I am sure they will for many more.  Hope you enjoy "Barracuda."

Piece of My Heart

Come on, come on, come on!

So, this evening I was listening to my favorite radio program.  You guessed it--Nights with Alice Cooper.  He played "Piece of My Heart" as covered by Big Brother & the Holding Company with Janis Joplin on lead vocals.  This is the only version of the song I had heard, but I did a bit of research and found there are many versions.  In fact, the song was written in 1967 and first performed by Erma Franklin (Aretha Franklin's younger sister).  So, the song has been covered in the 60s. 70s, 80s (Sammy Hagar), 90s (Faith Hill), and 2000s (Joss Stone and Melissa Etheridge).  It has also been covered by Bonnie Tyler and a host of others, but the performance in this video with Joss Stone and Melissa Etheridge is just truly amazing.  In the YouTube notes, someone commented that they felt Janis Joplin was smiling from above when these ladies performed.  It is powerful and passionate.  AMAZING.  Yeah!!!!  "Take another little piece of my heart now baby...break another little piece of my heart now darling..."  I cannot think of any other song that really packs as much punch and delivers the message as well as this one.  I think we've all had our hearts broken, but when you have really had it ripped out and smashed into a million pieces, this sums up the feelings perfectly!  Come on--we've all experienced this, right?  If you haven't, well, this tune paints a perfect picture.  So, listen and enjoy.  This particular performance gives me goosebumps.  It is just awesome.  I would love to hear Heart perform it sometime.  I bet Ann WIlson would change the earth's rotation with her voice on this tune.  Nevertheless, Ms. Etheridge and Ms. Stone really tear this one up.  BRAVA!!!!!

What About Love

So, Heart is one of my favorite groups from the '80s, and I absolutely love them.  I never get tired of their music, and all of their songs (from both the '70s and '80s) are terrific.  I heard "Barracuda" on the radio as I was driving home the other day -- definitely an excellent tune for driving through a twisty route through the mountains.  I looked at a couple of their songs that I hadn't heard in a while, including "What About Love."  This song is amazing, and I admit that Ann Wilson's vocals in the beginning were always so mesmerizing to me that I didn't listen to the rest.  I could remember the chorus pretty clearly, but I had to go back to read the full lyrics.  Beautiful, truly beautiful.  Pretty simple to understand.  Ann is singing to a man -- "the love I'm sending, ain't making it through to your heart."  Sounds like perhaps the man is preoccupied with work and forgetting about love.  I don't know how anyone could resist the touching lyrics of the song, which I imagine is one of the keys to it's popularity.  Well, that...and the video.  I hadn't seen it in ages, and I am not sure I understand it completely.  Definitely some kind of weird industrial underworld.  Guess it kind of goes along with the style of the day.  It has some very cool moments, like Nancy Wilson raising her guitar high above her head (kind of a "pray to the god of guitar" gesture -- very, very cool).  When she pops out of a mold after hot, molten liquid is poured in, that is pretty cool, too.  The video is fiery and intense, and I wonder what it would have been like in a different setting.  But, alas, it rocks....and so does Heart.  Hope you enjoy this wonderful power ballad.