Rickie Lee Jones

Cafe Society
41

Fiddle, here’s a great big kiss for posting about this, one of my top 5 lifetime favorite albums! I bought the record when it first came out and listened to it constantly. A couple years ago I realized that my ex-husband had taken it, so I bought it on CD. It’s that good.

Thanks to your reminder, I’m listening to it now as I get dressed this morning, and as usual, I’m dancing, singing, and snapping my fingers (“chicken in the pot, chicken in the pot, chicken in the pot”)

Over the years I’ve heard her influence in singers like Jewel, and recently in Sharon Little, the smoky-bluesy new artist that Robert Plant debuted on his last tour.

“Here comes Rickie with her girdle on tight…” Oh yeah…
I just realized I never got any of her later music. Which do you all recommend?

42

Agreed. Isn’t the extended car metaphor and related imagery one of the most brilliant creations in music?

43

I’d just start with her second album, “Pirates”.

44

Last Chance Texaco, Paris, 1985!

45

Goosebumples, shivers, tears, thank you for the link!

46

Gah, guess I used to have Pirates afterall, just downloaded the album from Amazon. Loving it. Next best?

47

Finally, an agglomeration of Rickie Lee Jones fans. Please help - Which RLJ song has the line, or something approaching, “I’ve got the boogie, the boogie, in my sock”?

48

“Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking.”

49

All I can recommend is Flying Cowboys, the last RLJ album I bought. Quite a mellow album. What is that saying? “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” is worth the price of admission.

50

I love that tune. The whole album is great, but I REALLY love that tune.

51

Nothing to add except for a heartfelt Brava to RLJ.

Oh, and figuring out the acoustic lick to Chuckie’s was one of the high points of my garage-band career!

52

Albums to listen to: “Traffic from Paradise”, all of it but especially “Stewart’s coat”
Second “Pirates”, esp. “We belong together”
“Ghostyhead” if you can find it. “Sermon”.
And of course her first album. I bought that one on vinyl way back when.

53

Bless all of you! I found Ghostyhead, replaced my long-gone vinyl Pirates and the original album, and spent tonight absolutely reveling in RLJ’s amazing music! I really needed the reminder of how transformational really good music can be.

54

I’d just like to say that one thing of which I am extremely proud is that I can sing Danny’s All-star Joint perfectly, not missing a single note or syllable. And I enjoy doing so tremendously.

Last Chance Texaco: Fucking amazing.

Company: the greatest grief song of all time.

BUT… I’m fucking PISSED at the company that protects her music. I made a memorial video for a friend of mine who committed suicide about a year ago. It runs about 18 minutes and includes “Company” and so far has been viewed over 500 times on YouTube… and just recently her people discovered it an YouTube killed ALL the audio.

I’m considering contacting her peeps and asking for permission. People still come to watch the video and finding some other music would be a bitch. It’s just right where it is.

I’m very proud of the video…it was a lovely gift to be asked to do it, and a gift I loved giving in doing it. ( I have a reputation that I cherish of having excellent taste in music and an excellent ability to create mixes, and that was the greatest test of my skills. I was awake for 36 hours straight finishing it in time for his memorial, and I spent the last few hours watching and tweaking and sobbing…) And I’m just proud of the job I did. I was entrusted with everyone’s feelings, really… I needed to take everyone through an emotional process, deep into the grief, the memory, and then pull them out. And the feedback is that I succeeded beautifully…only now it’s silent!!

Gr.