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Tad jones last chance road9/12/2023 She never approached the greatness of Pirates again. A jazz singer with a rock and roll heart and no pretension. “He’s got a ’57 Lincoln that has a radio that hurts, and the girls try to touch it to find out if it works.” This girl had the goods. I took a quick trip to Flaming Groovies the next day and bought the LP with the iconic porch light photo on the cover and the little picture of Rickie and Sal on the back. It was one of the best album sides I’d ever heard. I listened to the whole first side of the cassette. I put them in my ears, and Darcy cued up side 1 of Pirates. She said, “come on, just listen” and she handed me her headphones. “Rickie Lee Jones.” I must have made a face expressing, I know her album it’s ok, but. But idiot that I was, I said, “what is it?” Smart guys would, of course, just say “yes” to a question like that. This girl that a knew a little - she was a transfer student – and she came into the lounge and said, “do you want to hear something amazing?” I think her name was Darcy. But even then, it’s just from the nose up with just the corner of her smile. The closest thing to glamor is the cover of The Other Side of Desire. The iconic shot with her closed eyes lighting a tiparillo on the cover of her first album with half her face in shadow on The Magazine and then again on the Duchess of Coolsville 20 years later. And those that do are more about her inner life than her appearance. Only a few of her albums even have her picture on the cover. And she’s never been one for glamour shots. At the time, I didn’t know that people called her the Mae West of Rock & Roll. I know, what was wrong with me, right? How could I now have loved her then?Īnd no, it had nothing to do with the way she looked. I even saw her sing on SNL, “Chuck E.’s in Love” and “Coolsville.” I did marvel at her playing those Chuck E chords on an acoustic guitar. I just relistened to it, and it is the best début album by a female solo artist that I’ve ever heard. And no, it wasn’t when I heard “Chuck E.’s in Love” or the rest of her first album. I fell in love with Rickie Lee Jones a long time ago.
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