Remember when everyone thought Stevie Nicks was a witch?
Happy Halloween!
Here are some posts about mysterious women, taken from a previous October.
"Jacksie" - Over
The Rhine The Cincinnati-based band headed by vocalist/guitarist Karin
Bergquist and bassist/keyboards player Linford Detweiler has garnered
critical acclaim for weaving elements of folk, country, and indie rock
behind thought-provoking lyrics. “Jacksie,” the haunting opening track
from the band’s 1992 Patience CD, was inspired by the book, A Grief Observed
by C.S. Lewis. It deals with the loss of a loved one. Still, a casual
listener could be forgiven for thinking this is a classic ghost story,
especially with lyrics like, “They laid her in the ground./She still
comes around/A love that never dies takes you by surprise.” Bergquist’s
ethereal vocals, set to a slow, melodic arrangement, sends chills up
your spine, especially the way her “la la la la la la la” echoes like
you’re traveling through a dark forest.
"White Queen" - Queen A
thread of medieval sorcery runs through Queen’s second LP, released in
1974. Lead singer Freddie Mercury’s compositions, “Ogre Battle” and “The
March Of The Black Queen” provide some of the scarier moments on Queen II,
while guitarist Brian May’s atmospheric “White Queen” is more like a
Shakespearean drama of unrequited love. Set to a gentle arrangement that
gradually builds power, the poetic lyrics depict a man who maintains a
nocturnal vigil for a beautiful yet sad-eyed maiden. “And ‘neath her
window have I stayed/I loved the footsteps that she made/And when she
came/White queen how my heart did ache.” Later, he declares, “The white
queen walks and the night grows pale.” There’s a hint of something
supernatural going on here, as though the troubled damsel needs this guy
to save her. “So sad it
ends,” the song concludes, “as it began.”
"Guinnevere" - Crosby, Stills And Nash Sometimes what is unseen is more terrifying
than what is clearly visible. “Guinnevere,” a haunting folk rock tale
from the first Crosby, Stills, and Nash record, plays a similar game of
suspense. Set in a lush tropical paradise with peacocks and orange
trees, and conveyed through gorgeous harmony vocals, the song describes
two beautiful but doomed young women. One, Guinnevere, has mysteriously
vanished, perhaps a consequence of having dabbled in the occult with
pentagrams. The second woman seems to be following in her footsteps.
Writer David Crosby casts himself as a sailor who has romanced both
women, and it’s left unclear as to whether he’s an instrument in their
destruction or just a helpless observer. See “The Lee Shore” for another
of Crosby’s mysterious seafaring yarns.
"Rhiannon" - Fleetwood Mac Back
in 1975, no one could have predicted that the arrival of Stevie Nicks
and Lindsey Buckingham would transform Fleetwood Mac into the world’s
hottest band. Perhaps some of that success came from divine
intervention. Nicks explained that her melodic composition “Rhiannon,”
which became one of the Top 40 hits from the LP, Fleetwood Mac,
was about a Welsh witch, but Rhiannon was also a goddess in Welsh
mythology who wore a gold dress and rode a white horse. The song’s mysterious lyrics
like, “Would you stay if she promised you heaven” and “She is like a cat
in the dark/And then she is the darkness,” could refer to either the
deity or the sorceress. Fleetwood Mac, having already recorded scary
songs like “Hypnotized” and “Black Magic Woman,” knew how to bring
“Rhiannon” to life with a classic rock arrangement.
“My
Girlfriend Is A Witch” - October Country This song is just one of the many cool
audio artifacts to be found on the Rhino CD compilation, Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets: 1965-1968.
Recorded in 1968 by a band that never found success beyond the West
Coast, this is classic garage rock, with fun, spooky lyrics like,
“Riding high/Leaving trails of smoke across the sky/On a broom/Glad that
I am safe within my room.” In this case, having an other-worldly
significant other doesn’t seem to have any ill effects, but it does
inspire a bit of competition. “What a fate/A worshiper of magic for a
day/But tonight I become a warlock just for spite.” The song was written
by record producer Michael Lloyd, who also provided lead vocals and
some high-powered psychedelic guitar strumming, along with Marty
Arsenault.
“Tick Tock” - Crystal Jacqueline And The Honey Pot This song was originally done by the English band The Fleur de Lys.
Several years later, Crystal Jacqueline And The Honey Pot recorded it for the UK all-vinyl Fruits de Mer label. Crystal Jacqueline often
sounds like she’s conjuring something mysterious, and along with members
of The Honey Pot (guitarist Icarus Peel, bassist Tom Brown, and drummer
Wayne Fraquet), she creates some scary fun here. “Tick Tock” is about a witch who’s about to fly off at the stroke of midnight to
haunt the bedrooms of little boys and girls. “You better watch out, I’m
on my way,” the witch taunts, “and I’ve made my witch’s brew.”
Want more Halloween fun? Check out October, 2009 in the BHT archives. I did 31 Halloween song posts that year. I’ve done a few more during the month of October in the years since then.
