Creeping Memory Loss

Bob Dylan purportedly gave this advice to young songwriters: Don’t write songs with a lot of words; it’s hard to remember ‘em when you get old.

Aaron Neville has been touring, just himself with only piano accompaniment, performing mostly soulful ballads. A music stand close to Neville held a book of song lyrics which he referenced a few times.

Performing solo, John Hiatt stopped in the middle of a song, trying to remember the next lyric. Someone in the audience called out, “Just go ahead with it.” Hiatt responded that a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder couldn’t do that; he has to sing the song from beginning to end. After a few more beats, he smiled, nodded, then re-started the song from the beginning.

Even a much younger singer needs a little help remembering the words… or maybe it was just part of the act.

Save the Last Dance

I have often thought that if everyone could attend a Neville Brothers show, there would be world peace. Sadly, the group no longer performs. Charles Neville, the Brothers’ spiritual leader, died of cancer in April 2018. Aaron Neville, perhaps the most well-known brother because of his successful solo career and eclectic collaborations with other artists, appeared in Portland billed as the “Aaron Neville Duo,” the other half of the duo being keyboardist Michael Goods. They performed a low-key set of songs, reaching back in time to Nat King Cole, The Drifters, Billy Joel and even the Mickey Mouse Club theme, and including the smash hit “Tell It Like It Is.” (Notably missing was “Over You,” Aaron Neville’s first charting song. Penned by Allen Toussaint, it was a modest hit in 1960, but contains lyrics not likely to be sung in public in the twenty-first century.) A highlight of the evening was “Save the Last Dance for Me,” a number-one hit for The Drifters.

Continue reading “Save the Last Dance”