© 1995
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1200 Curfews © 1995 |
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Joking
Words and Music:
Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago, IL on 4/18/93 by nickel & dime. Engineer: Don McCollister, assisted by Susan Fitzsimmons.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Emily: This recording came from the Metro in Chicago--our favorite club. I love the breakdown section at the end--anything goes, and improvising more this past touring year has given new life to older songs.
Amy: I've always maintained that the Cabaret Metro in Chicago is the best rock club in America. Before we got signed I spent months trying to get a gig at this club When we finally got one, we had to cancel it because Epic decided to sign us and required our presence elsewhere. I hated canceling that show and I swore I would always play the Metro. This particular night was part of a club tour called "The $10 Tour".
Least
Complicated
Words and
Music: Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, PA on 4/26/95 by Sheffield Audio-Video Productions. Engineer: Fred Derby
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scarpantoni: pennywhistle
Emily: It was hard to pick a live version of this song. In the end, the Philly crowd lifted this one above the others. The crowd sings "na na na na na na na" with reckless abandon, Amy on mandolin, Jane on pennywhistle. The drum fill into the second verse is my favorite Jerry fill of all time. I look back at Sara during this part.
Amy: 'You know--I saw Emily all the time in elementary school and I never knew she was up to so much. I do, however, remember her ability to play the most complicated guitar chords.
Thin Line
Words and Music: Gerard McHugh
(lyrics)
Recorded and produced live in the dressing room at the Santa Monica Civic Center in Santa Monica, CA on 5/27/95 by Jerry Marotta. Engineer: Tchad Blake
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scrpantoni: cello
Emily: My favorite song on 1200 Curfews. Gerard McHugh is a great songwriter--we've always wanted to put a song of his on the record. This was recorded live in the dressing room, all of us crammed together being taped by Jerry and the electronics he pushed around in a big black case. The band was a family in a family room.
Amy: Jerry brought his recording equipment along on the Honor the Earth tour, hoping to capture our spontaneous dressing room jams--this wasn't exactly spontaneous but it was live. Gerard has been a musical comrade and friend of mine for over 10 years. He's part of an abstract musical creation called The New Mongrels--head mongrel, alphadog is an actor/writer/musician by the name of Haynes Brooke--we put on record out called New Mongrels--Not Dead (Yet). Gerard has written a lot of songs that I wish I could put my name on. "Now I'm trying to get back to what I know that I should be hoping to God I was just a temporary absentee."
River
Words and Music: Joni Mitchell (lyrics)
Recorded live at Atlanta Symphony Hall in Atlanta, GA on 12/21/94 by Sam's Tape Truck. Engineers: Joe Neil and Larry Good.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily: Joni Mitchell is my favorite songwriter artist. Sometimes, rarely now, I do a song of hers during our set. I used to play "River" over and over again on my record player. Marley, this one's for you.
Amy: I have a lot of memories of standing on the side of the stage, listening to Emily sing River and wondering what to give her for Christmas.
Strange Fire
Words and Music: Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago, IL on 4/18/93 by Nickel & Dime. Engineer: Don McCollister, assisted by Susan Fitzsimmons.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jand Scarpantoni: cello
Scarlet Rivera: violin
Emily: One afternoon at soundcheck the band joined in on this with us--up until then we played it solely as a duo. I can remember all the nights we sang this at the Pub and the day we went to the AME church to shoot the cover photos for the album. We wore a lot of black.
Amy: We never practice this song as a band and have rarely performed it as one. The Rites of Passage touring season was full of improvisational moments such as this recording--a full circle of the old and new. Majoring in religion, listening to TV evangelists interpret the scriptures and dictate my offerings--I found my God inside myself, around myself--in every moment and piece of matter. Everything is animate.
Power of
Two
Words and
Music: Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded for Global Satellite Network's Modern Rock Live. Executive in charge of production: Karen Glauber; Executive producer: Howard Gillman; Producer: Richard Winn in Los Angeles, CA on 8/23/94. Engineer: Jimmy Rash. Hosted by Tom Calderon. Mixed by Jimmy Rash.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily: I wrote this song more quickly than any other song on Swamp Ophelia. This version was recorded during a radio interview in LA while we were on a West Coast Tour. A song can start so simply and tiny and then take this immense journey via all those air waves.
Amy: This recording came from a radio show called Modern Rock Live. We took questions from the listeners and played a few songs. We are always so tired when we do radio interviews that I rarely feel 100% about it--I like this version of Power of Two because it's a little sleepy and very gentle.
Pushing
the Needle Too Far
Words and Music:
Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA on 11/27/92 by Nickel & Dime. Engineer: Don McCollister, assisted by Susan Fitzsimmons.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily: I love the rawness of this song and performance. We never play this song with a band. This was recorded at the Fox theatre in Atlanta, a place I never could have conceived of playing. I remember looking out into the faces, nervous as hell, transported. I'm glad we got a song like Pushin' the Needle from this particular Atlanta performance.
Amy: Skeletons in the closet of a Southern family--the numbing of America--don't give in
Virginia
Woolf
Words and
Music: Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live at Atwood Concert Hall, University of Alaska in Anchorage, AK on 5/30/95 by the Mirror. Engineer: Charles Hewitt; second engineers: David Molletti and Mark Florez.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Emily: Usually there's a cello intro live, but it was cut off during recording--sorry Jane! I can remember the unnamed forces guiding the Honor the Earth tour. Virginia Woolf was already special to me, but singing it this night of the tour pushed it even deeper into its pocket of truth. We were revisited.
Amy: Great performance--this was the first song that I knew for sure would be on this record.
Jonas
and Ezekial
Words and
Music: Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded and produced live at the Hopi Civic Center on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Kykotsmovi, AZ on 5/24/95 by Jerry Marotta.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Emily: This was recorded at the Hopi reservation where we played in the civic center for a group of community kids. It was a highlight of the Honor the Earth tour. Some of the kids gathered together and danced freely during the show, and ,after we played, Amy and I got to meet everyone. Our name up on the civic center marquee was an honor.
Amy: I'm never sure what this song is about--but somehow biblical names in a slave cemetary and a bike ride in New Hampshire conjured up a song about oppression, activism, and Indians. This show took place at the Hopi Civic Center during the Honor the Earth tour in front of an assorted group of kids and adults. They didn't really know who we were but they danced around, ate ice cream, and made us feel extremely welcome.
Tangled
Up In Blue
Words and
Music: Bob Dylan (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA on 8/24/92 by Westwood One Mobile Recording. engineer: Biff Dawes
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Scarlet Rivera: violin
Emily: My favorite Bob Dylan song. We originally came up with the bluesy section while recording with Michelle Malone's Drag the River. Our manager Russel sang it. Scarlet added so much to this performance, she had toured with Dylan and her violin flew perfectly over the song. I've been there with the Italian poet.
Amy: "we always did feel the same we just saw it from a different point of view" Originally we learned this song for a Bob Dylan tribute album put out by a local Atlanta label--Sister Ruby Records.
World
Falls
Words and Music:
Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded live at Atwood Concert Hall, University of Alaska in Anchorage, AK on 5/30/95 by the Mirror. engineer: Charles Hewitt; second engineers: David Molletti and Mark Florez.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Emily: For the beauty of the earth. I love this song. I'm glad the band got to share in it for the first time this year.
Amy: Alaska is the ultimate place to sing this song. I stayed up all night in Anchorage enjoying the daylight--got up in the morning and flew to the fishing town--CORDOVA. In Cordova we toured the Prince William Sound and testified at Public hearing on behalf of the Eyak Rainforest Preservtion Fund. The Eyak people are fighting against clearcutting on the land they subsist on--there are only 300 Eyak people left. Cultural and Biological Diversity--the beauty just keeps shaking me...
Bury
My Heart at Wounded Knee
Words and
Music: Buffy Sainte-Marie (lyrics)
Recorded live at Atwood Concert Hall, University of Alaska in Anchorage on 5/31/95 by the Mirror. Engineer: Charles Hewitt; second engineers: David Molletti and Mark Florez.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Emily Saliers: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals
Sara Lee: bass, backing vocals
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Jerry Marotta: drums, vocals
Jimmy Descant: electric guitar, backing vocals
Emily: This is the latest song we learned as a band. We learned it in the dressing room on the Honor the Earth tour, taped lyric and chords sheets up on stage and played it every show thereafter. It was my favorite song on that tour. Jerry sings a verse--the only time he's done that with us. We visited the site of Wounded Knee on that tour. A feather found me. I'll never be the same.
Amy: This song is one of the many gifts we received during Honor the Earth. Everything in "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" is true and that's what's shocking. After visiting Wounded Knee the past, present, and future came together in my soul and presented itself. From massacre to murder--the demons continue to evolve--soldiers to corporations--the obvious and the subtle. I will not be complacent.
Ghost
Words and Music:
Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live for Simulcast on KBCO at Red Rocks in Denver, CO on 8/13/94 bye Professional Sound & Recording. Engineer: Phil Crumrine; assistant engineer: Chris Mickle. Recorded live to two-track digital audio tape.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily: We wanted a duo version of this song, and I'mglad it came from Red Rocks. We've had so many special high altitude nights there. Just as we were giving up hope of finding a good duo version, Amy found this on an old cassette. "Ghost" was the most heavily orchestrated song on "Rites of Passage", but it was written lonely and bare bones.
Amy: One of Emily's best songs--I never get tired of singing this song and it's always a challange to hit the right notes. This version came off of a live radio simulcast from our show at Red Rocks. I love to play Red Rocks because you never know what the weather will bring--in our case it always seems to be hailstorms.
Dead
Man's Hill
Words and Music:
Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, PA on 4/26/95 by Sheffield Audio-Video Productions. Engineer: Fred Derby.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar,
melodica, vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums, backing vocals
Sara Lee: bass
Emily: Amy plays the melodica. She learned this part during the Swamp Ophelia tour. We went to school together--the images of the fields where some of this story took place are as vivid to me as if I had written them myself.
Amy: I'll never understand how bonfires turned into dead kittens--my hands are still sweating from trying to play the melodica part correctly.
I
Don't Wanna Know
Words and Music:
Amy Ray and Michelle Malone (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA on 4/9/93 by Nickel & Dime. Engineer: Don McCollister, assisted by Susan Fitzsimmons.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Michelle Malone: mandolin, backing vocals
Scarlet Rivera: violin
Emily: This is an old one--Michelle and Amy wrote it together. What a hootenany song. The Birchmere is typically a quiet listening club, so it felt good to storm it a little. We didn't find this version until near the end of our search for 1200 Curfew songs. When I heard it I knew it was a must. Tiny stage. Tiny room. As face to face as you get.
Amy: I wrote ths song with Michelle Malone while sittin around a campfire out west somewhere. I felt like running away so I did...
Galileo
Words and Music:
Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, England on 11/21/94 for the BBC by Fleetwood Mobiles. Engineer: David Leonard; second engineer: Tim Summerhayes.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Emily: I'm still that we can play overseas and have a following. Our London fans are amazing, and they lifted this version up. Galileo is just a fun, stick-it-at-the-end-of-the-set venting celebration. I'm still pondering reincarnation.
Amy: Amazing how many songs come from a bottle of beer, a few friends, and a lifetime of fears.
Down By
The River
Words and Music:
Neil Young
Recorded live at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago, IL on 4/18/93 by Nickel & Dime. Engineer: Don McCollister, assisted by Susan Fitzsimmons.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar,
vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Scarlet Rivera: violin
Michelle Malone: backing vocals
Emily: Neil Young rules. Some songs--you can't explain their power. We would probably jam on this song longer if we didn't have a curfew.
Amy: Alienation, humanity--beautiful and suffering--Flannery O'Connor captured it and so does Neil Young. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, it makes me want to jump off into oblivion...
Love's
Recovery
Words and Music:
Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live at Atlanta Symphony Hall in Atlanta, GA on 12/21/94 by Sam's Tape Truck. Engineers: Joe Neil and Larry Good.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: saxophone
Sara Lee: bass
Emily: Jerry plays sax with us for the first time this year. He can play any instrument he picks up--more and more we pick up new instruments: melodica, mandolin, dobro, pennywhistle, lap steel. The language changes. This song still means as much to me as when I first wrote it, different names and hearts.
Amy: It's hard enough to keep a straight relationship together...imagine being gay. (scratched out) It's a struggle to find a church, state, or population that recognizes the validity of a gay marriage. I don't know what Emily was thinking about when she wrote this song--but it has always inspired and empowered me on a community level as well as a personal one.
Land of Canaan
Words and Music: Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago, IL on 4/18/93 by Nickel & Dime. Engineer: Don McCollister, assisted by Susan Fitzsimmons.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily: This song is now on three of our records--that's a first. Jerry started playing lap steel on it this year, but this version is just the two of us. Sometimes we'd finish playing it and Jerry and Sara would jump in to rock an outro. Playing music can be deliriously fun sometimes.
Amy: This song has appeared on more Indigo albums than any other song we've written. Im not sure why its' on this album...but I promise its the last one.
Mystery
Words and Music: Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live at Atwood Concert Hall in Anchorage, AK on 5/30/95 by the Mirror. Engineer: Charles Hewitt; second engineers: Dave Molletti and Mark Florez.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Emily: This version is very much like the studio version but always satisfying to play live. You can never predict when you're making a studio album which new songs will come especially alive when played on tour. This was one for me. I got to know it through singing it live.
This Train Revised
Words and Music: Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded live at Walker Theater in Winnipeg, Manitoba on 5/13/95 for CBC radio. Engineers: Marc Demers and Greg Boboski.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily Saliers: dobro, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass, pennywhistle
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Emily: It was between this version and one from London. Sara's pennywhistle haunted us. Amy started adding "Jacob's Ladder" as an improv this year--it was played differently every night. It's always interesting to witness and be part of the evolution of a song from studio to live versions.
Amy: "Hey hey Woody Guthrie I wrote you a song about a funny old world that's a coming along" (B. Dylan) Still Stacking
Back Together Again
Words and Music: Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live in Amy's basement direct to a 2-track cassette in 1982.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily: I forgot that I even wrote this song When we came across it for consideration. Even though the lyrics make me cringe when I hear them now, the song takes me back to a time when Amy came down to New Orleans to visit and we played on the streets of the French Quarter for tips. This is a song about our friendship and music. Yikes--the lyrics!
Amy: One of the first two originals songs we ever played together (the other one was called Tuesday's Children). Emily wrote this song after she had been away at Tulane University and I was back home, still in high school. I went to visit her in New Orleans and she taught me this song--that weekend we played for tips in Jackson Square. I believe we recorded this the summer after my high school senior year (1982) This was part of the "Live in Amy's Basement tapes"--a collection called Extension--recorded through a cheap mixing board to a cassette.
Language or the Kiss
Words and Music: Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live at Sheperd's Bush Empire in London, England on 11/21/94 for the BBC by Fleetwood Mobiles. Engineer: David Leonard; second engineer: Tim Summerhayes.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: bass
Emily: I finished this song hotel room in Brussels. I will learn the piano intro so I can play it live. I'm dumbfounded by the equal capacities on either side of everything.
Chickenman
Words and Music: Amy Ray (lyrics)
Recorded and produced live at Palumbo Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA on 10/13/94 direct to 2-track digital tape from the house sound board by David Kehrer.
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Sandy Garfinkle: harmonica
Michael Lorant: tambourine, backing vocals
Emily: I was asleep in the van when Amy met the Chickenman in Texas. The song itself can barely contain what it is written about. Amy began storytelling during the song and I sat down on the corner of the drum riser and listened.
Amy: This recording is a board tape from a show in Pittsburgh. Just when I thought I had heard all our tapes I discovered 25 board tapes from duo tours in 1994--a blessing and a curse--I stayed up (scratched out (one?)) nights listening to a lot of out of tune shows and great memories. The harmonica player Sandy is from Pittsburgh and Michael was on tour with us. with his band Big Fish Ensemble. When I hear the Shotgun Shiver, another arrow from the quiver roadkill bingo--redemption--revelation
Midnight Train to
Georgia
Words and Music: James D.
Wheatherly (lyrics)
Recorded live at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, PA on 4/26//95 by Sheffield Audio-Video Productions. engineer: Fred Derby.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Amy Ray: electric guitar
Jerry Marotta: drums, backing vocals
Sara Lee: bass
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Gail Ann Dorsey: vocals
Jimmy Descant: backing vocals
Emily: One of my favorite songs of all time. We only perform it when Gail Ann Dorsey is with us. Jimmy Descant, our guitar tech, knew all the words and Pips moves. So he performs it with us. We call him the King of Soul because of his unparalleled collection of soul music which he used to blast in the back room of the bus.
Amy: FISH OUT OF WATER
Closer to Fine
Words and Music: Emily Saliers (lyrics)
Recorded live at Atlanta Symphony Hall in Atlanta, GA on 12/21/94 by Sam's Tape Truck. Engineers: Joe Neil and Larry Good.
Emily Saliers: acoustic guitar, vocals
Amy Ray: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jerry Marotta: drums
Sara Lee: pennywhistle
Sheila Doyle: violin
Gerard McHugh: backing vocals
Dede Vogt: backing vocals
Emily: It's a sing along. We invite our friends to join us every night, so no two versions are the same. I wrote this song sitting in a rocking chair on a porch in a cabin in Vermont. Same questions. Shelia plays violin on this version--we do love our fishes.
Amy: Emily first played this song for me on the sidewalk in front of the White Dot in Atlanta. I thought it was okay, but not her strongest...oh well, what do I know.
Bury My Heart at
Wounded Knee (studio version)
Words and Music: Buffy Sainte-Marie (lyrics)
Recorded at Southern Tracks Studio, Atlanta GA, engineer: Carem Constanzo; and Long View Farm Studio, North Brookfield, MA, engineer: Fran Flannery, assisted by Kelly Wohlford. Mixed at Louie's clubhouse, Los Angeles, CA by Scott Litt, assisted by Victor Janacua.
Amy Ray: acoustic and electric guitar, vocals
Emily Saliers: lead electric guitar, vocals
Sara Lee: bass, backing vocals
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Jerry Marotta: drums, backing vocals
Russell Carter: backing vocals
Emily: We wanted a studio version of this song to release to radio. I hope they play it because single sale proceeds go to the Seventh Generation Fund. We cut basic tracks in Atlanta and finished them up at Longview in Massachusetts. We stopped work at four am and got up early the next morning to record backing vocals with Jerry + Sara. This song has a life of its own.
"Least Complicated", "World Falls", "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", "Dead Man's Hill", "I Don't Wanna Know", "Galileo", "Love's Recovery", "Land of Canaan", "Mystery", "This Train Revised", and "Language or the Kiss" were mixed at Purple Dragon Studios, Atlanta, GA by David Leonard, assisted by Tim Harrigan and Rich Isaac.
"Joking", "Thin Line", "Strange Fire", "Pushing the Needle Too Far", "Down by the River", and "Closer to Fine" were mixed at Nickel & Dime Studios, Avondale Estates, GA by Don McCollister, assisted by Glenn Matullo.
"Midnight Train To Georgia" was mixed at Purple Dragon Studios, Atlanta, GA by Don McCollister, assisted by Tim Harrigan.
The concert in Philadelphia was a benefit for WAND (Women's Action for New Directions)
The concerts in Anchorage, Winnipeg, Santa Monica, and on the Hopi Indian Reservation were part of the Honor the Earth tour sponsored by the Indigenous Women's Network and the Seventh Generation Fund to benefit Native American environmental groups.
Royalty earnings from the sale of the song "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" will be donated to the Honor the Earth campaign to provide ongoing support to Native American communities working to protect their land and culture.