SOUNDTRACK: TOM JONES-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #220 (June 7, 2021).
Tom Jones does not look as sexy as he once did (he was 81 on June 7), but wow his voice is as powerful as ever.
It’s a poignant moment in the life of a singer whose career spans 56 years and more than 100 million records sold; the passing of his wife, Linda, in 2016 after 59 years of marriage was devastating and resulted in the longest break between recordings of his career. But now Tom Jones is back with a new album, Surrounded By Time, and ready to share his deepest feelings, channeling songs by others with a voice still rich and muscular.
Jones may be 81, but you can see the generations of musicians who want to play with him here. Stephanie Ward (with a great organ sound) could be his granddaughter and I’ve seen drummer Jeremy Stacey play with King Crimson!
The songs on the album (and for this Tiny Desk) deal so eloquently with time and aging. Tom Jones sings Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup Of Coffee” and going “down to the valley below.”
“One More Cup of Coffee” opens with some slow upright bass and gentle drums. I love Ward’s organ sound on this track. Spare but perfect.
Then, he takes on Malvina Reynolds’ folk tune “There’s No Hole In My Head” and turns it into a fierce statement about being yourself.
For “There’s No Hole In My Head” Ethan Johns gets a surprisingly Indian (sitar?) sound out of his guitar. Nick Pini switches to electric bass and Jeremy adds percussive sounds to his drums. Tom really belts out the song.
He ends the set with “I’m Getting Old” a slow, sad ballad. Ward plays piano and Jones sings these words.
When Tom Jones was 33, and after one of his infamous shows in Las Vegas, jazz composer Bobby Cole presented him with the song “I’m Growing Old.” With lyrics including “I’m growing dimmer in the eyes / I’m growing fainter in my talk / I’m growing deeper in my sighs / I’m growing slower in my walk.” Tom Jones didn’t feel old enough to do it justice, but he held on to it. His performance here brought me to tears and is well worth the wait.
I love to think of Jones as a young stud belting out songs. Hearing him singing about being old is pretty intense.
[READ: July 1, 2021] “Dream Fragment”
This month’s issue of The Walrus is the Summer Reading issue and features three pieces of fiction and three poems.
The second piece is a poem. It is about the winter, which is a little odd for a summer reading issue.
An unnamed woman was seen at her door speaking to each of the seasons. She had a clear preference for winter.
The weather was jealous and would see what it could make of her face.
I like the line
“Winter whispered in a voice akin to mine”
How might the wind, the winter, touch your phase one more time?
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