| Playlist |
|
|
| Song |
From Album |
comments |
| "From The Station" |
The Rainy Season |
|
| "Ghost Train" |
Marc Cohn |
The guitarist -- Shane Fontaine -- did an unbelievable job with
this. The liquid notes he poured over the stage set exactly the not-quite-awake
tone of the song and turned a potentially saccharine ballad into a
haunting memory. |
| "Perfect Love" |
Marc Cohn |
Although this song is all flowers and niceness, it's never been a
favorite of mine. It seems a little too programmed to be a hit at weddings
everywhere. Also, Shawn Fontaine proves that, while he's got serious
game with a guitar, his voice really is no substitute for James Taylor
-- the only thing, IMHO, that makes this song work on the studio album. |
| "Don't Talk to Her At Night" |
The Rainy Season |
This is one of my favorites from The Rainy Season, so I
thoroughly enjoyed it. Like "Ghost Train", Mark and Shawn really took
advantage of the free-form of a live concert to punch it up a notch. |
| "Three Steps Down" (?) |
forthcoming |
Marc said that Roseanne Cash recently did a good cover of this, but
I'd never heard of it. |
| "If I Were an Angel" |
forthcoming |
This song will, when it's released, help prove again why Marc Cohn
is perhaps the greatest lyricist in recent memory. He extends a metaphor
far, far past what a lesser writer could pull off, and yet it never
cracks or crumbles. Whenever the next album comes out, I would buy
it for this song alone. |
| "29 Ways" |
Marc Cohn |
I will admit to being one of the few Cohn fans, apparently, who can
take or leave this song from the debut album. However, in concert,
it is always one of my favorite tunes. For one thing, this is usually
the song where Marc finally invites the audience to participate completely.
Second, he brings to it a playfulness that, IMHO, is lacking in the
studio version. |
| "The Rainy Season" |
The Rainy Season |
This is another song that I feel comes across much more strongly
live than in the studio. (Although, I have to admit, as I replayed The
Rainy Season to get ready for this show, this one began to grow
on me anew.) |
| "She's Becoming Gold" |
The Rainy Season |
This is my all-time and hands-down favorite Marc Cohn song. On the
album it's astounding. In concert it was very nearly a religious experience.
I am staggered by how sharply Marc conveys the wistfulness and edginess
of the piece's subject -- but every time I listen to it, somehow, it
strikes me as extremely hopeful. |
| "Walking in Memphis" |
Marc Cohn |
How could anyone not like Marc's breakout hit and signature piece?
It's another song where he clearly is simply having fun being
a musician. He also pulls the audience in, too, and gets everyone doing
the background vocals. At every show I've been to, this is the song
where he unlimbers his patented "Let's vocalize some chatter" style
("Can I have a little more monitor, please" sung as a lyric, for example.)
It's a song he clearly intends to get the house rocking and he is not
disappointed. |
| "Let Me Be Your Witness" (?) |
forthcoming |
Again, if the new album had only this song on it, I'd probably buy
it. It's about the other side of relationships -- our need to be the
witness and the wall for our loved ones, to be the safe harbor in an
unsafe world. Sweet without being sappy and defiant without being dull,
it's an athem for anyone who's been the shoulder to cry on. |
| "Dig Down Deep" |
Marc Cohn |
Perhaps the most crowd-pleasing song (and certainly the most-oft-requested
tonight), this one got everyone to their feet. It's probably a stamp
of Marc's professionalism that, after performing this hundreds of times,
he can still manage the little quaver ("We could talk -- we could talk
for a while") that so perfectly encapsulates the nervous games at the
start of relationships. Another one where, even if he wanted to, he
couldn't keep the audience out -- and one where he doesn't even try. |
| "Silver Thunderbird" |
Marc Cohn |
My dad never owned a silver Thunderbird -- or indeed any cool car
-- but every time I hear this, I feel closer to him. The song captures,
for me, all the hope and loss and pride that form the tangled skein
of my memories of my father. That's pretty amazing since the content
has no direct relevance -- and again shows why Marc ranks as one of
the great storytellers. The song is exact and personal -- and trancendant
and universal. In concert this becomes even more apparent, as Marc
transforms the family car into a touchstone and an altar. |
| "One Safe Place" (?) |
forthcoming |
This was the fourth time Marc unvieled a hint of what is coming.
It's sort of unfair, because it makes me very antsy that he release
the album soon. Judging from the other albums, I'm
going to predict this will close out the new one, as it closed out
the show: Soft and almost spiritual, it embodies the mix of world-weariness
and hope that is Marc Cohn's trademark. He's clearly a man on a journey
to a place he knows only dimly, and we're clearly fellow travellers
with him. |
