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December 3, 2008 at 18:38:44
Odetta Sings Her First Song, from Way Up Above Us by muservin Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
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Odetta Holmes. Odetta, "Little Ode." What a sly introduction to a voice that rocked my world in earlier days, and always. I don't mean "rocked" or "rolled," but literally rocked its foundations, when I first heard her sing. And she will be there, she will show at the Inauguration, as her first song heard from that great Ways away. We'll be listening.
Odetta in 2006, from Wiki
She sang of migrant workers, "I come with the dust.....and I'm gone with the wind..." I still can feel, only remembering, the intensity of soul in her delivery of those lines, and the shudder that ran through me. One, I somehow knew I didn't entirely have the right to call my own.
Somehow, someday, I must make this my own, if I ever hoped to truly belong up there. Must. Yes, I felt that very thing, at the very first hum of her voice, like a natality, like something new under the sun of my own life, until I realized that it belonged to a different time, and a much harder truth and place than I myself had then known.
Humbling, but lighting a fire in me, and also under me.
She said last year, when asked where her voice came from, "Slavery."
That was It. That was what I had heard, at the bottom of that dark well of a voice.
But that is the power and grace and majesty of music - true music, like hers - to give to others, even the least deserving, a grace, and an "ease" of access to higher places. Like Auden wrote in his great poem, The Composer:
"You alone, alone O imaginary song
Are unable to call an existence wrong.
And pour out your forgiveness like a wine."
Well, I won't say more than that but this: we learn that she had hoped to sing at Obama's Inauguration. She is, after all, the Muse of American Democracy, in many provable ways like her rendition of "We Shall Overcome" at the March on Washington, 1963. And the testament of Rosa Parks when asked what songs meant the most to her, "Every song that Odetta sings."
I remember St. Therese of Lisieux's famous promise, as she died at 24: "I will spend my Heaven doing good on Earth."
I do believe Odetta will spend her Heaven still singing all the slaves on their road home to Freedom.
And also I do believe that's all of us, for all those who can hear her still.
That is the deeper meaning I derive, from her ever blazing Song.
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Ode to Odetta: "She marches on" ~~ when she's not flying.
FYI: NYT has a great video at their obituary, aptly titled ( in more ways than one! ) "Last Word." She speaks of having her first wound on a train from the Deep South to my town, L.A., when she was ten, and being asked by the porters to sit in another car. She said she came to folk singing from the experience of "having someone's foot on your throat wherever you turned," and refusing to accept the extinction of her individuality. She said it was slave songs and slave resolve that she felt most deeply, and tried always to sing from that. That all came through in her music of the '50s, when Bob Dylan heard her, and traded in his electric guitar for an acoustic. And, she, like Paul Robeson, was one of my deepest inspirations for beginning my career as a singer, and I left that name on my membership profile in the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus newsletter, when asked, after a successful audition, what singer I'd most like to be. I wrote Paul Robeson, but he was The Emperor Jones, and she was surely, in terms of the same qualities and stature she brought to civil rights in this country, his Empress. Even last year, Reed in the Boston Globe said she was still "...a force of nature," as was always, to the bitter end, that Emperor too. As far away as the Guardian, there was an article Monday, that she had been admitted with renal failure to Lennox Hospital, but was rallying. She had put up a poster of Obama facing her from the foot of her bed. The narrative ended with a surmise that it was her resolve to sing at his Inauguration that was the thing keeping her alive. And sing she shall. Hers was one of the most powerful voices, in its expression and depth of sonority, that we will ever hear down here. Safe passage to front ( and center ) of The Choir, Odetta Holmes! You came in with our dust, now go Up with the Wind. ~~John Ervin (aka "muservin") by muservin (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 3, 2008 at 7:57:49 PM  (1+)
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Beautiful tribute
Thanks for bringing her story to so many of us, John. Do you have that video link? by Rady Ananda (182 articles, 374 quicklinks, 49 diaries, 1718 comments [201 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 3, 2008 at 9:17:12 PM (1+)
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Reply: Link to Odetta and "The Last Word" at New York Times, video
This is a classic video and interview. She looks back over the long road, and says it all. She's a rapture. She can widen an "O" until the musical soul stares into the bottomless well of time, and the Blues. And then she can take you to unknown and sacred places, just with the way she moves on. A friend sent some Xmas spirituals tonight, and we'll be listening all Advent to "Everywhere I go, Somebody talkin' 'bout Jesus." And others. Check it out, and try to resist the chill. It will be the bright star shining out of the pitch black night, as we let it lead the way through a very special and unexpected Advent month, with her voice as our guide to Christmas. An unforgettable artist, and what a thrill to have the chance to honor her publicly, with boundless admiration. When she sang "57 Channels" recently as a spoken poem, the author came out from the wings, Bruce Springsteen, and said it was the greatest performance he'd ever heard of it. Odetta. by muservin (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:13:22 PM (1+)
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Odetta
This may sound silly but is this the Odetta of "Blues Everywhere I Go," the song and CD of the same title? The reason I ask is I know there is more than one Odetta. We were entertained on a cruise ship by an Odetta, who was a young, middle-aged white woman. My husband and I got so excited when we saw her name posted on the day's events. This Odetta was very very good but was not the Odetta we were hoping for. If this is the same Odetta, I'm saddened to hear that she passed away. I don't recall seeing anything in the news about it other than right here. This is one woman who could really belt out a tune in the best tradition of Bessie Smith and others. For my money though Odetta was the best. by Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments) on Wednesday, Dec 3, 2008 at 10:25:37 PM (0+)
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Reply: Yes, "That One" ~~ and The One and Only Odetta.....
Yes, the Blues album you cite is the same Odetta that was the life-long heroine of Rosa Parks, sang for MLK at the March on Washington, and other immemorial accolades, but none so great as her singing itself. I found a great way to review some of her greatest songs, by clicking on Odetta in a search at Amazon, and it will take you to all her albums. Then, scroll down to the play list and click on the different tracks, for a half minute sample of various songs. The reason that works so well for her, especially, is that she can grab you by the ear in the first few notes. Like all the greatest musicians, she states her case, her majesty, usually in a few stanzas. We've been listening to her tonight, and can't get enough. I hope history comes to record, or more so, her very special place and role in the quest for democracy and rights in our country. The video at NYT, link above, states her cause quite well, and Youtube has quite a splendide offering of many videos of her singing. Must see, for sure. But I just close my eyes, rock back and forth, and listen. It's music for blind people, who hear more than anyone could ever see....... by muservin (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Dec 3, 2008 at 11:23:20 PM (1+)
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"Pastures of Plenty" by Woody Guthrie, LINK to Odetta
Here is a great link to a four minute rendition, the greatest, of Woody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty," whose mournful refrain is cited in the piece above: "On the edge of your cities you'll see me and then, I've come with the dust.....and I'm gone with the wind." It could easily be the anthem of any and all migrant farm workers, or the theme of Cesar Chavez and UFW. Odetta's performance is impressive, and makes us understand why Martin Luther King crowned her "The Queen of Folk Singing." She proves that, below, and the music turns on when you click the link. Literally: Blip.fm | Tracenator | Pastures Of Plenty (Odetta) – Various Artists by muservin (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 at 6:27:59 PM (1+)
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MAYA ANGELOU, ABOUT ODETTA, 1999
by muservin (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 78 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 3:10:50 AM (1+)
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