Jesse Winchester, troubadour
“All those sweet old love songs,
Oh, every word rings true,
Sham-a-ling-dong-ding means sweetheart,
And sham-a-ling-dang-dong does too.”
Wanna know the difference between a great singer and someone with a great voice? Watch this video. Jesse Winchester destroys all sentient beings with this performance of “Sham-A-Ling-Dong-Ding,” a heartbreaking slice of nostalgia done earlier this year on Elvis Costello‘s Spectacle. The solitary tear cascading down Neko Case‘s face at 3:12 is absolutely priceless. Granted, I wish I could lop off the final :30 of this vid, but whatever. Listen and weep.
Jesse Winchester – Sham-A-Ling-Dong-Ding
http://youtu.be/5uKGWpqnS8E&w=560
Winchester can’t jump octaves like Freddie Mercury or an American Idol finalist. But, what he can do is use his limited vocal range to communicate fundamental human emotions like a surgical strike to your soul. Combine that with excellent fingerpicking and deceptively brilliant lyrics and you have an all-timer of a performance.
Buy Love Filling Station, Jesse’s most recent album (which contains the studio version of “Sham-A-Ling-Dong-Ding”)
PS – I’m dedicating this post to my mom, who passed away 17 years ago tonight. I’m pretty sure she would’ve loved this song.
Such a stunning song and presentation – thanks very much for this. Sweet dedication to your mom – mine passed almost six months ago… and I keep wondering when (if ever) the intense pain will subside…
This is the best thing I've seen all year. And possible the most incredible performance I've seen in several. Well placed, well written, and well played, LD.
Thanks y'all. Susan, the pain subsides, but you never get over it. Hope that helps. Happy new year to everyone … with the emphasis on NEW!
Well, you did it, you pulled my favorite song off the Jesse album. I have all these Spectacle shows DVRed that I haven't watched yet; now I have to and make sure my wife does too.
My Mom passed in 1994 (Dad in '80) and you're right they would have loved it. I'm actually sure they do NOW.
My parents gave me my love of music. My Mom was a better than average singer who dide all nher singing in church in the choir or as a soloist and the occassional wedding here and there. I'm happy I got to duet with her back in the 70s doing Arlo Guthrie's (“Valley To Pray”…from Washington County), Dillard & Clark (“”Crying Holy Unto The Lord” off the second LP) and several others from my country gospel repertoire of old before I went pagan. She was a pain to rehearse with but the performances always went good with me playing my simple guitar and singing along with her. I miss that and her.
Thanks for triggering some great memories.
Don't know why I'm having such a problem posting comments on some blogs in particular, but I am, so if you see fit to post this, it's okay with me.
Duncan Walls
a/k/a duncanmusic
Thanks so much. Wow. This is a fantastic song. I'm lucky enough to be able to send this song to my mother, but I know that she'll be thinking of my late father when she hears it.