Tango In The Night Song Survivor!

[Hawkeye]

Everywhere

[tynan88]

Eveywhere...nowhere.

Tynan

[ontheEdgeof17]

EVERYWHERE

-Curt

[HomerMcvie]

I can't believe I'm voting off a Chris song, but,
Everywhere.

[Vianna]

Everywhere

[golden braid]

Everywhere

[Wild_Heart03]

Tango In The Night

[Cristian]

Seven Wonders

I really like the other songs better.

[TISL]

so long Tango In The Night !!

[xdreamsunwindx]

I'm callin' out for Everywhere.

-Kate

[stefan]

Everywhere

[sparky]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Again, I was a very new fan to Stevie when 'Tango' was released, so I knew little-to-nothing about her personal life. So of course I couldn't make heads or tails of "Welcome To The Room... Sara," but that was part of what I loved about it (and many of Stevie's songs, in general). It was so cryptic, that it made me WANT to know what it was about. To "read between her lines," and figure out what the message was.

At this mention, I think of the Rolling Stone review of The Wild Heart. It quoted Stand Back's " No one knows how I feel, what I say unless you read between my lines", and then said pointedly, "WHO'S FAULT IS THAT ?"

At the time I has scandalized, horrified, and personally affronted. I had Stevie on such a pedestal, and hadn't scrutinized other songwriters and followed them enough to get any perspective on the evolution of an artist's body of work.

Now I completely agree. I know essentially what she was talking about in most of her songs. However, with Tango, she began her descent into absolute cryptic world, and the awful habit of third person self referential songwriting (WTTR....S, Juliet, and Alice being the first main culprits). To me, this created a distance between writer and listener and now I understand it as a self protective device born out of self consciousness. At the time, I thought it made her cool and mysterious and somehow special to me and very few other people. I believed I belonged to some special sort of club that could "figure out" her message and apply it to myself. Now I just find it annoying and limiting. The truly great songs in rock history, IMO, can be covered, and aren't so cloaked in personality and celebrity specific messages and imagery. I believe the record of which of her songs have been covered and have been successful bear out this theory.

Of course, I desperately love the woman and her art. I have been a fan for almost thirty years. Nonetheless, I think that Tango signaled a shift in her writing, and I don't think it has ever quite recovered. She began to take herself and her image too seriously, and it continues to color her writing to this day. There are exceptions - TISL and a few others - but overall, I think she writes from the POV of a famous, rich, somewhat martyred "star" - and for God's sake how many people can truly relate to THAT ? I know her history and can get it, but who, other than crazy fans, wants to work that hard ?

It's a drag and a loss to me. But I suppose that is her world, and she writes what she knows. I still think her best writing was done pre-1986 (or even 1980), before she was a phenomenon. Her consistent rifling through her vaults seems to indicate that I am not the only one who thinks that.

To get back to the topic of Tango - her two self written songs on the record are IMO two of the very worst examples of the type of songs that embody this trend in her post RAL writing. She talks about herself like she was a grand character in literature, and while it once made me feel she was exactly that, now it just feels self conscious, detached, and emotionally uninvolved.


BTW - My vote is for Everywhere.

[secondhandchain]

Originally Posted by amber
I would like to submit that if you don't love Stevie over the top, you don't really love Stevie
AMber
Let me clarify. What I meant was, over the top in the warbling. I don't mean letting go and belting it out. For example: There is a version of "Straight Back" where she let loose a little more. Love it. I just wasn't into the Tango period of Stevie vocalizing. If you think about it you will know what I mean. I felt when I heard "The Dance", that she had it back, in a big way. Another example is the Tango in the night Video. Completly over the top with the close up and the guaze on the lens. I watched that video once and could never look at it again. Sorry if I sound incoherent. I was out. It's Friday.
P.S. Example: Talk to me , "swelling tear" I used to hate that delivery and think "what are you doing Stevie"

[HomerMcvie]

with Tango, she began her descent into absolute cryptic world, and the awful habit of third person self referential songwriting (WTTR....S, Juliet, and Alice being the first main culprits). To me, this created a distance between writer and listener and now I understand it as a self protective device born out of self consciousness. At the time, I thought it made her cool and mysterious and somehow special to me and very few other people. I believed I belonged to some special sort of club that could "figure out" her message and apply it to myself. Now I just find it annoying and limiting. The truly great songs in rock history, IMO, can be covered, and aren't so cloaked in personality and celebrity specific messages and imagery.

That is the most astute assessment of Stevie's writing that I have ever read.
Bravo.

[sparky]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

That is the most astute assessment of Stevie's writing that I have ever read.
Bravo.

Thanks, buddy.