I finally got to see Patty Griffin live and have scratched a major item off my bucket list.
While this experience was every bit as spiritual as the Little Earthquakes show, it was so different. This was the first time in nearly 12 years that Patty has toured by herself; not with a band, not backing up any of her super-famous singing friends- just Patty, a piano and her guitars.
This was a dream come true for me and I got to share it with people I love and who totally understood how special this was going to be. I have loved Patty since a friend shared a track from Living with Ghosts with me. I was blown away by the beauty of the music and that was just the beginning. At that time I couldn't have imagined Flaming Red, 1000 Kisses, A Kiss in Time and then the heart-breaking beauty of Impossible Dream. I have a feeling that will always be my all-time favorite Patty album because of how deeply I feel every track.
There's no way listening to Patty sing from the 7th row could be disappointing. But, as with any artist who has a large catalog of songs from which to choose when planning a set list, not everyone will hear everything they want to hear. There were 3 songs I really wanted to hear live, but I knew I would be fine as long as she sang When it Don't Come Easy. Sadly, she didn't include it in her set list for the Sooner Theatre show, but it's okay. She wrote the song, put it out in the universe for me to enjoy for the rest of my life along with all of her other work. She even played a couple of songs from the upcoming 2013 album!
And, at the end of a very cold wait after the concert, I got to meet her! Absolutely a stellar night!
October 5th, 1992 at Sooner Theatre in Norman was a life-changing night for me. I sat in the theatre with 818 other people and learned what others meant when they said a concert had been a religious experience. That's what Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes was for me. I loved that album long before that concert experience but that solidified a spot for Little Earthquakes as one of my Top 5 All-time Favorite Albums.
When I listen to Little Earthquakes (and I mean the entire album, not just that song), I need only close my eyes and I am instantly transported back. I can't explain what I was feeling as I watched this intriguing red-head pound the keys of the piano while seductively twisting her body towards the audience. Everyone sat in mesmerized fascination and for 2 hours we were all on the same wave length. Where did she come from and why didn't she get here sooner?
The songs seem timeless to me and I know that's because I love them, but today as I was dealing with lots of emotion, I couldn't get this song out of my head and it seems so poignantly relative to what I was feeling that I had to share it.
[Try the Spotify link first as it's the album version, but if that doesn't work, I've embedded a decent live version. Words to the song are at the very bottom of the blog.]
All the world just stopped now So you say you don't wanna stay together anymore Let me take a deep breath babe If you need me Me and Neil'll be hangin' out with the dream king Neil says hi by the way I don't believe you're leaving Cause me and Charles Manson like the same ice cream I think it's that girl And I think there're pieces of me you've never seen Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen well
All the world is all I am The black of the blackest ocean And the tear in your hand All the world is Danglin'...danglin' dang-dangalin' for me darlin' You don't know the power that you have With that tear in your hand Tear in you hand
And maybe I ain't used to Maybes smashing in a cold room Cutting my hands up every time I touch you Maybe, maybe it's time to wave goodbye now Time to wave goodbye now
Caught a ride with the moon I know, I know you well Well, better than I used to haze all clouded up my mind in the daze of the way it could've never been So you say and I say and I know you're full of wish And your "baby baby baby babies" I tell you there're pieces of me you've never seen Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen
All the world is all I am The black of the blackest ocean And that tear in your hand All the world is dangin'...Dangling'...dang-Danglin' for me darlin' You don't know the power that you have With that tear in your hand Tear in you hand With that tear in you hand
