The Daily - A Bit of Relief: Jody's Playlist

Episode Date: March 27, 2020

Jody Rosen, a writer for The Times Magazine, transports us into his current soundtrack. From Alberta Hunter's “voice of longevity” to the “transfixing performance” of Missy Elliott, Jody shares the music that’s helping him find new rhythms — during these days stuck inside.Music discussed:“My Castle’s Rockin’” by Alberta Hunter“I’ll Get By” by Nick Lucas“Lick Shots” by Missy Elliott“Simply Beautiful” by Al Green

My name is Jody Rosen. I'm a writer for the New York Times Magazine. I cover a bunch of different things for the magazine, but one of the things that I write and think a lot about is music. And while so many of us are stuck inside, finding new rhythms for our days, I thought I'd share with you some of the music that I've been thinking about and listening to. Thank you. One of the artists I've been listening to quite a bit is the singer Alberta Hunter.

In particular, this song of hers is called My Castle's Rockin'. There are certain pieces of music Start that ball a-rollin', my castle's rockin'. Come on by and see, come on folks. There are certain pieces of music that seem like they were kind of engineered in a lab to raise your spirits. You can blow your tacos, everything's free. That swing that is just infectious. Don't worry about a thing, cause I'm playing it cool for protection. Just brings this instant boost to your spiritual immune system. Now the thing you need to know about Alberta Hunter is she has this fascinating backstory.

Hunter was one of those black Americans who, after the turn of the century, left the South, moved north, in her case to Chicago, and in the 1920s and 30s, she was one of the century, left the South, moved north, in her case to Chicago, and in the 1920s and 30s, she was one of the blues women who pioneered this new kind of American popular singing. Performing these urbane, sexy, funny songs full of attitude. I must admit he's as tight as a bandage But what he's got he sure knows how to manage It's really music that laid the groundwork for much of what has come in the centuries since.

She remained a professional singer into the 1950s, but in the early part of that decade, she stopped. She vanished from American popular music, kind of dropped off the radar of American popular culture, and embarked on a new career as a health care worker. She went to nursing school, got a degree, and for a long time, she worked as a nurse in a New York City hospital, taking care of the sick and the infirm. And then... I'm going to sing you a pretty song this time. They don't write songs like this anymore. In the late 1970s...

This is a beautiful song. She did something that's quite rare in pop music. songs like this anymore. In the late 1970s... This is a beautiful song. She did something that's quite rare in pop music. She launched this comeback... Most folks nowadays... As a woman in her 80s. Say old-fashioned ways Should give place to things that are new She got a gig performing at a nightclub in the village.

She got a gig performing at a nightclub in the village. She also got a record contract, recorded a few albums for Columbia Records. It's one of the great second act stories in music. It shakes my ashes, greases my griddle. She was still singing these same my man

rollicking is such a handyman you know, often quite body dirty blues songs that she'd performed decades earlier. But she's bringing a whole lifetime of wisdom and experience to them. Come on up some night, my castle's rockin'. So the song that I've been listening to a lot is one that Hunter first wrote and recorded around 1940, but the version that I've been listening to

was recorded in 1978, right at the beginning of her comeback. Stuff is there and the chicks fairly romp with glee. It's a song about a party. In fact, it's a party invitation. Come on up, bring your friends

and we'll start that ball a-rollin'. And she goes on to describe what sounds kind of like an illicit Prohibition-era house party. Now, there may be an autobiographical component here. Alberta Hunter was a lesbian, and the kind of black, bohemian, gay social scene that she was a part of in Chicago and New York as a young woman in the mid-century was by definition illicit. So I'm sure she must have attended or maybe even hosted secret house parties in her time. even hosted secret house parties in her time. Of course, you can't host a real house party right now. It's not a time to invite all your friends over like Alberta Hunter. But when I put on Alberta Hunter, I feel like this is an aspirational anthem for a world in lockdown.

But there's something else. There's something, I think, bracing, or maybe it's reassuring in hearing the voice of this elderly person that's so full of spirit and is so sly at this super

frightening time, to hear that voice of longevity, I guess, a voice that really embodies this idea of a long life that's fully lived, that's festively lived. That's just something that I want to play... This old world was just a sadder place for me. It's a song called I'll Get By by this performer named Nick Lucas. It's a song called I'll Get By by this performer named Nick Lucas. This song is recorded in 1928, almost exactly a year before the stock market crash.

And it has lyrics that anticipate, almost eerily anticipate, the sentiments that filled those Depression-era songs. There are lines in the song that go... There may be rain and darkness too, I'll not complain, I'll laugh it through. I'll laugh it through. It's that message of resiliency, the knowledge that hard times are out there on the horizon. I'll get by as long as I have you. And the kind of determination to meet the hard times and to persevere, that's a theme that you hear in so many songs of the Depression.

It's one that's really speaking to me these days as we confront a world in turmoil, an economy that's in a tailspin, the prospect of incredibly difficult days ahead. The next artist I've been listening to a lot is pretty different from Nick Lucas. Quiet! Hush your mouth.

Silence when I spit it out. What can I say about Missy Elliott? Hang down, flip it and reverse it. It's your primitive and flabby ass. Of course, Missy is a great rapper and entertainer and dancer. I'm a big mac, make you wanna eat that. Like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, great rapper and entertainer and dancer. But she's more than that. She's like a piece of Americana up there with, I don't know, George Washington, Mark Twain, Bugs Bunny, Louis Armstrong, whatever you got.

You know, she represents, to me, the very best of what American culture has given to the world. And a Missy Elliott song that I've been listening to a whole lot is Lick Shots from 2001. It's a record where you can really hear what a great, pure, vocal stylist Elliott is. You don't wanna speak my name Mess around, get that ass blown away Brrrah! Fool gone away I ain't never like you till anyway stylist Elliot is. In the way she syncopates her vocals. In the different effects she achieves

with her voice. Grunts. Shrieking. She moans. It's a really transfixing performance and it's what I love about Missy Elliott and this song

like most of Missy Elliott's great records was produced by Timbaland. Who's one of the supreme record producers of all time. He's got a great ear for hooks. He's got a great ear for hooks. In lick shots, putting together a drum beat and maybe a keyboard line or a little sample, a snatch of guitar. Lots of producers will just kind of stop there. You know, they'll create the hook and kind of loop it for a few minutes and that's enough.

But every few bars in lick shots you can hear something surprising happening. A new percussive element for a few measures. A little harmony vocal that kind of shoots up and recedes super quick. He'll drop the beat out. Around 2 minutes and 20 seconds into Lick Shots, he introduces this kind of spooky little counter melody on a synthesizer. And that takes the song to another new place. Hum, turn it to big shots. Time to see you dance. Hey, you are you for everybody.

Of course, you can hear all these great details if you're listening in headphones. But the way I've been playing this music in my house is by turning it up loud. And throwing a little dance party. My wife and kids and I have been taking the opportunity to get silly, move around the apartment, sweat a little. And relieve some of that stress and anxiety that we're all feeling. Of course, the dance party can't last all night. Of course, the dance party can't last all night. At the end of the day, when it's time to wind things down,

go to bed, and kind of sit there with my own thoughts, I've been reaching for one of my favorite records of all time. Al Green's I'm Still in Love with You, a record from 1972, and a song I've been listening to and really needing to hear a lot these past several days is this song called Simply Beautiful. It's kind of an unusual song.

Al Green plays guitar on the song, which is not something he did very often. It's very, very quiet and subdued. And his voice is close mic, so it's got this I expect a whole lot of love out of you. And his voice is close mic, so it's got this super intimate sound. It's almost like he's whispering in your ear. You've got to be good to me.

Which makes sense, because let's not be coy about it. I'm going to be good to you. It's what they used to call baby-making music. And I'm certain that this record has been, shall we say, put to use over the decades many, many times. Yes, it's a song about love and sex, but it's also about beauty itself. You know, the beauty of the song can really bowl you over. And there's an especially amazing moment that comes around three minutes into the song when the music has kind of dropped into a vamp. And then he unleashes this falsetto moan

before a steadier beat kicks in for the first time in the song. It's got to be one of the best moments I've ever heard on any record. For me, this song is therapeutic. You know, well before I'd ever heard of the coronavirus, I've used this song to chill out, to commune with the spirit of Al Green, and I guess to, like, not to be too grandiose about it, but to connect to the larger beauty that exists in the universe. That's what I hear in this performance.

And over the last couple of weeks, as I, like everyone else, has been kind of consumed with this anxiety and fear and sense of uncertainty, I've been reaching for this song, putting it in my earbuds at night and allowing it to kind of wash over me as I fall asleep. So from my Brooklyn apartment. To wherever you're listening out there. Take comfort where you can. And take care.