Street Angel's Jane

[Tango]

There's a nice write up and photo on Ms. Goodall in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/science/16conversation.html?_r=1&hp


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/backgrounds/transparentBG.gif


The article mentions Jane is a legend. Stevie knew that. Poets . . . Priests of nothing . . . Legends.


(No monkeying around here--as a friend once told me, "chimpanzees are not monkeys.")

[SapphireSister]

Stevie actually did her a dis-justice by writing such a terrible song about her lol. I'm sure she meant well but the result was not pretty.

[mitzo]

I actually liked Jane as the standout song on Street Angel. I think a lot of people did not understand that it was about Jane Goodall and were put off by the lyrics especially the "chimpanzee" line. It has some beautiful melody hooks and a soft, reflective air, and some powerful lyrics eg. "nothing more than the shadow of a man (taken from the book by Jane's mentor, Leakey, In The Shadow of Man)" and "come away from the wall."

[Garbo]

Jane is a fantastic song. Street Angel is an under rated effort. Not her best, but not bad.

[iamnotafraid]

Stevie actually did her a dis-justice by writing such a terrible song about her. I'm sure she meant well but the result was not pretty.

Even Barry didn't like it.

[mitzo]

Whenever I get a new Stevie or FM album I have always run through the cuts to find the emotionally moving typical Stevie dreamy ballad, usually tucked away amid a mishmash of other stuff. They make my world turn, it is those songs that have defined her, to me. On FM it was Landslide, on Wild Heart there was BATB, on Rock a Little there was HAEWAFY, on TISL there was Love Is, on Tusk there were Sara, Beautiful Child, and Storms, on Tango there was When I See You Again, on Behind the Mask there was The Second Time, on The Dance there was Silver Springs, on SYW there was Goodbye Baby. I can add Crystal from the Practical Magic Soundtrack, and Touched by an Angel from Sweet November. On Street Angel there was Jane, the sweet surprise at the end of a fairly disappointing album. By far the weakest song on this list, but in the same genre. I like it.

[mitzo]

With Stevie`s voice the way it is these days she pulls off these gentle ballad-type deals better than ever. Look at her later years renditions of BATB, HAEWAFY, Silver Springs, and Beautiful Child. They are epic when done live and really show off her vocal stylings. I hope the new album has more than one of these types of beautiful songs.

[vivfox]

Jane is a fantastic song. Street Angel is an under rated effort. Not her best, but not bad.


Where's the bucket? I need to puke.

[David]

To me, "Jane" is just ordinary Stevie Nicks, like most Stevie Nicks. But it would have been interesting to hear or see the live rendition Stevie did in 1991 or '92 at the benefit.

[KarmaContestant]

Jane is a fantastic song. Street Angel is an under rated effort.

I agree. :nod:

[Tango]

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There are angels here on earth.

[RockAlot]

Because it was about Jane and the chimps, I liked it when I 1st heard it. Had I not know it was about Jane maybe I would of had a different view?

[vivfox]

Jane and Just Like A Woman are the only songs on street Angel I don't like.

[johnnystorms]

Jane and Just Like A Woman are the only songs on street Angel I don't like.
i looove Just Like a Woman! such a logical move for her! i think she pulls off Dylan really well!

[chele_belle]

First time I heard Jane I had high hopes, then I heard the word "chimpanzees" and it just threw me for the rest of the song. I just couldn't get past it and haven't really listened to it since.

[Tango]

I don't have a problem with Stevie writing a song about Jane Goodall or her work with the chimpanzee, but I don't know that it necessarily belonged on the Street Angel album. I've been thinking about it, since I saw the article. I think the song, itself, is a wonderful tribute to someone who did a lot of good work in animal protection, conservation and the science of animal behavior. For some reason this woman really impressed Stevie, and she wanted her fans to know it and think about her. But why did she use this song? She obviously had dozens and dozens of other songs she might have used--we've seen them coming out of the vault in recent years.

As I think about the album as a whole, it seems to be focused on women--Greta, the women in Docklands doing the laundry, the street angel living and wandering about the mean streets, "Just Like A Woman"-woman, Jane, etc. Maybe somehow the message got lost, as Stevie was still dealing with her own issues.

But there seems to be such a difference in the women of the album-- Jane, on one hand, who really accomplished a lot, verses the ones that are roaming the docklands--there must have been a reason why she covered some of these songs, and wrote some of the others. Is there some sort of universal on this album that Stevie was compiling? Maybe there isn't.

http://billcainonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Boy1.jpg

Maybe it was just the money on her back.

[pwyll]

As in most cases, the piano demo of this song is amazing. Street Angel would have been a far better album had she used the original tracks and put her issues with Glynn Johns aside.