Monday, March 14, 2016

"You Solve Me" / Marti Jones
  
Just popped into my head. As songs inexplicably sometimes do.


What's not to love about this song?  There's that bossa nova beat, which I've loved ever since hearing the Beatles sing "And I Love Her" (actually this entire album, You're Not the Bossa Me, is bossa nova).

Then there's Marti Jones, 80s chanteuse and wife of Don Dixon; she's recorded tunes by so many of my faves, from John Hiatt to Elvis Costello to Graham Parker, not to mention touring with the ever-wonderful Amy Rigby in 2005.  How is she not my best friend?

And then, this particular track is written by songwriters Kelley Ryan and Bill Demain.  I don't know much about Kelley Ryan but Bill Demain is one of my songwriting heroes.

On a rainy early spring Monday, it's such a blessing to sink into the warmth of Marti Jone's contralto and the laidback Brazilian rhythms of this song. Yeah, life is stressful for her too -- "I'm all messed up and there you go" -- but love somehow makes the equation work: "But everything is easy 'cause you solve me."

Verse two is the one that gets me -- she compares herself to a jigsaw, a crossword, a Scrabble game, all of which I love to play. And isn't that what we all want in life -- someone to guess our clues and fill in the empty spaces?

3 comments:

Carabella said...

Oh, I love Marti! Thank you for reminding me...You read my heart.

Holly A Hughes said...

Why does it not surprise me that you're a fan of Marti's?

NickS said...

"Just popped into my head. As songs inexplicably sometimes do."

As befits the title of your blog (and why the title is so good).

A quick recommendation -- you might enjoy The New Bossa Nova by Luciana Souza