Friday, April 23, 2004
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head...
Scatting is an art. To scat skillfully is to bop like Charlie Parker on the saxophone. Your voice has to land exactly on the notes with punctuality and extreme accuracy. It's hard to be good at it. Ella Fitzgerald was the best scatting artist I've heard. Another group that brought scatting to the forefront of jazz was Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, who was popular in the 70's.
The landmark scat song is "Twisted," written by the group's very own Annie Ross, who penned lyrics after Wardell Gray's famous blues tune. I first heard "Twisted" in the beginning credits of Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, and it was perfect:
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head
The way he described it he said I'd be better dead than live
I didn't listen to his jive
I knew all along that he was all wrong
And I knew that he thought I was crazy
But I'm not, oh no....
...They say as I child I appeared a little bit wild
With all my crazy ideas, but I knew what was happening
I knew I was a genius
What's so strange
When you know that you're a wizard at three
I knew that this was meant to be...
...Now do you think I was crazy
I may have been only three, But I was swinging
These lyrics are so clever and they flow like water with the melody. When you dig deeper to the lyrics, you'll also find that they capture the self-gratification and narcissism of high-strung and neurotic people. Like words one whispers in one's head.
Compare the lyrics to the following popular song:
she bangs, she bangs
Oh baby
When she moves, she moves
I go crazy
'Cause she looks like a flower but she stings like a bee
Like every girl in history
That era of cool is long gone...
|
The landmark scat song is "Twisted," written by the group's very own Annie Ross, who penned lyrics after Wardell Gray's famous blues tune. I first heard "Twisted" in the beginning credits of Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, and it was perfect:
My analyst told me that I was right out of my head
The way he described it he said I'd be better dead than live
I didn't listen to his jive
I knew all along that he was all wrong
And I knew that he thought I was crazy
But I'm not, oh no....
...They say as I child I appeared a little bit wild
With all my crazy ideas, but I knew what was happening
I knew I was a genius
What's so strange
When you know that you're a wizard at three
I knew that this was meant to be...
...Now do you think I was crazy
I may have been only three, But I was swinging
These lyrics are so clever and they flow like water with the melody. When you dig deeper to the lyrics, you'll also find that they capture the self-gratification and narcissism of high-strung and neurotic people. Like words one whispers in one's head.
Compare the lyrics to the following popular song:
she bangs, she bangs
Oh baby
When she moves, she moves
I go crazy
'Cause she looks like a flower but she stings like a bee
Like every girl in history
That era of cool is long gone...
|
