The Truth on the Spirituality of Love

I received my copy of Lucinda Williams' superlative Lucinda Williams Live at the Fillmore (2003) a week ago today. It is taking far more than "just a spin or two" to do this double CD set justice in a review. But here's a "sweet taste" of my spin on one of the top 5 singer songwriter's alive today:

Last track on Disc One:

Atonement

A Biblical / Punk Slash and Burn -- shades of Patti Smith.

....Come on, Come on, Come on
Kill the rats in the gutter
Sings the voice in the choir
Bring your Father and your Mother
Sing it higher and higher

Shake the clammy hand
Repeat the 23rd psalm
Make you understand
Where it was you went wrong

Voices from tapes
Shouting with twisted tongues
Emotional rape
Hell fire scorched lungs ....
[Emphasis added.]
_______

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff—
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.

While she mixes in a heavy dose of C&W blue lullaby, Lucinda ends Disc One of Live at the Fillmore with Atonement, a Dylan-gone-electric-and-violent from 1966 with multi-instrumentalist Doug Pettibone doin' a couple mean SRV guitar solos. Poetry on fire, slashin' and burning your spiritual farm; Tom Joad's family ".... tractored out by the Cats (i.e. Catepillar Tractors). ....."

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(To be continued, humbly, by your Gold Cost Bluenote staff writer, editor, and typist.)