Happy Rhodes

[stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender)]

Well, I've been listening to my new Happy Rhodes tapes for the
past several days with brief Kate breaks, and I agree with
Vickie, Charlotte, and Jeff that she is indeed a musical genius.

I think that in some dreary alternative history Kate Bush might
have had to struggle for recognition like Happy is doing, if she
hadn't got her leg up into the business.  You should all go out
and buy Happy tapes, since even if you don't like her you'll have
given her the money and recognition she needs to be heard by
everyone who does and will like her music.

My favorites?  From _Rhodes Vol. I_, "Oh the Drears", "I'll Let
You Go", "Case of Glass", "Moonbeam Friends", "The First to Cry",
"The Wretches Gone Awry".  From _Rhodes Vol. II_, "The
Revelation", "Under and Over the Brink", "Not For Me", "One
Alien", and "To the FunnyFarm".  At least those are the ones that
stand out in my mind when I just looked over the titles on the
tape.

I've been waiting to see how Happy would sing "I've lost my way
through this world of profanities/ I thrive on the wind and the
rain and the cold" since Jeff Burka's signature drilled the line
into my brain.  It was certainly more beautiful than I could
imagine ahead of time.

For those of you willing to buy Happy Rhodes's music based on
just our recommendations, the best way I can describe it is that
it's very simple, light-sounding music on the first listen, but
the lyrics are complex and often dark.  Vickie's example quote
from "To the FunnyFarm": "And when I go I'll be efficient at
making ashtrays" not only looks rather chilling in print, but the
delivery is subtly amazing.  "The First To Cry" is another song
that sounds like some sort of romantic tearjerker if you don't
pay attention, but which seems to be a song about suicide to me.
And knowing that Happy is a Wendy Carlos fan makes her very
simple and primitive-sounding synthesizer sounds understandable
and easier to appreciate.  I'll probably be sending off for
_Rearmament_ and _Ecto_ next week.

I forget who was trying to compile lyrics, but I'd be willing to
help out, as long as you keep in mind that I have a full-time job
and a full-time hobby so I may not crank them out very quickly.
Although at this point I think all I can do is get some of them
hilariously wrong, rather like the bit about "my oxy and my toe"
instead of "my oxy and nitro."  I swear Happy sings "I'm not a
peapod, but someday I will pass on through" in "The Wretches Gone
Awry".

I could go on for longer, but I have to finish packing to take a
weekend trip to Spokane for Bloomsday this weekend.  Any
Love-Hounds in Spokane?  Look for my black racing wheelchair with
the electric blue steering handles on the Bloomsday course.

Steve VanDevender 	stevev@greylady.uoregon.edu
"Bipedalism--an unrecognized disease affecting over 99% of the population.
Symptoms include lack of traffic sense, slow rate of travel, and the
classic, easily recognized behavior known as walking."