Annie Lennox Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Annie Lennox is 70 (Christmas Day)

Eurythmics

Annie Lennox poses on the red carpet during an award reception at the Library of Congress for 2023 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song honoree Joni Mitchell, February 28, 2023. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

Scottish-born Annie Lennox dropped out of the Royal Academy of Music to become part of the late 1970s new wave band the Tourists. I wasn’t familiar with them. They had a couple of UK hits, the familiar tune, I Only Want To Be With You (1979) and So Good To Be Back Home Again (1980).

The band broke up in late 1980. Lennox and Dave Stewart split up as a couple but decided to continue working as the musical duo Eurythmics.

I have two of their vinyl albums, plus their greatest hits on CD. After she went solo in 1992, I got two CDs.

Five years ago, my wife and I went to MassMOCA to see ‘Now I Let You Go…’ an art installation by Annie Lennox.

Coverville 1514: The Annie Lennox Cover Story II

Some songs

When Tomorrow Comes – Eurythmics. It was no released s a single in the US.

Missionary Man – Eurythmics. “Upon the single’s US 1986 release, the song was described as being inspired in part by Lennox’s 1984–1985 marriage to devout Hare Krishna Radha Raman. When discussing the song’s inspiration and meaning, Lennox stated ‘Obviously, there is a personal meaning in [Missionary Man] for me, because of my past history. But I also think that there are a great deal of people in the media, in the form of politicians or religious speakers or philosophical people, people who are generally trying to have some power over other people, who I just don’t trust.'” #14 pop (1986), Grammy for Rock Vocal Duo.

Who’s That Girl – Eurythmics, #21 US pop in 1984.

Two Angels

Angel – Eurythmics It “would be the duo’s final single for almost a decade (discounting the re-release of two older singles the following year)… Lennox said in an interview at the time that the song was inspired by the death of her aunt, as she sings about a woman who has killed herself and now has ‘gone to meet her maker.'”

There Must Be An Angel (Playing with My Heart)”- Eurythmics. It “features a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder. The song became the duo’s only chart-topper in the United Kingdom. #22 US pop (1985).

No More ‘I Love You’s – a cover of a song by a group called The Lover Speaks, the 1st song on her album Medusa, #23 US pop and a Grammy winner for pop female vocal.

Why -Annie Lennox. “It was taken from her debut solo album, Diva (1992), and reached number five in the United Kingdom. In the United States, “Why” peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the Adult Contemporary chart… Stereogum ranked “Why” number one on their list of “The 10 Best Annie Lennox Songs” in 2015.

With QoS

Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves -Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin. “A modern feminist anthem, it was… featured on both Eurythmics’ Be Yourself Tonight (1985) and Franklin’s Who’s Zoomin’ Who? (1985) albums. [I have both albums.] The duo originally intended to perform with Tina Turner, who was unavailable at the time and so they flew to Detroit and recorded with Franklin instead. The track also features three of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers: Stan Lynch on drums, Benmont Tench on organ, and Mike Campbell on lead guitar, plus session bassist Nathan East.” #18 US pop (1985)

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Eurythmics, their breakthrough hit, it reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and #1 US pop (1983)

Would I Lie To You – Eurythmics. In the heyday of MTV, it was probably one of the Top 10 favorite videos, #5 US pop (1985).

Annie Lennox has been involved with AIDS activism, wmen’s rights, and antiwar activities. In February 2024, at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, during an in memoriam segment, she performed [with Wendy and Lisa] late singer Sinéad O’Connor’s song Nothing Compares 2 U; Lennox repeated her call for a ceasefire and ‘peace in the world.'”

While it’s a bit precious, I think the description of Eurythmics’ 2022 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is not wrong.

“Much like the moment in The Wizard of Oz when the film turns from black-and-white to Technicolor, the opening strains of Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” irrevocably changed perceptions of 1980s pop-rock. Employing the mechanistic funk of Krautrock, the grit of gospel, and the strangeness of psychedelia, Eurythmics’ genre- and gender-fluid pop vision was both futuristic and beholden to past eras, while remaining eminently accessible.”

October rambling: direct the whirlwind

Washington can’t be trusted

expiration_date_high_score — This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

Inside the most brutal dictatorship you’ve never heard of

America’s Forgotten Mass Lynching: When 237 People Were Murdered in Arkansas

Why Are Poor Countries Poor?

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Compounding Pharmacies

Before He Animated For Disney, Willie Ito Sketched Cartoons In An Internment Camp

Diversity, inequality and prejudice

John Fugelsang: the enemies of Christianity

Edison and Tesla’s cutthroat ‘Current War’ ushered in the electric age

The amazing feat of extreme auto engineering by Frenchman Emile Leray allowed him to escape being stranded in a Moroccan desert in 1993

Annie Lennox: Maverick sat down with MSNBC’s Ari Melber at MASS MoCA

Are Expired Pregnancy Tests Accurate?

Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator

‘Jeopardy!’ host Alex Trebek may leave the show over cancer battle

You’re welcome, Arthur

Robert Forster, Oscar-Nominated ‘Jackie Brown’ Actor, Dead at 78

Rip Taylor, Flamboyant Comic and Host of ‘The $1.98 Beauty Show,’ Dies at 84

Facebook cloning scam; you were not hacked

Tigger – PRONUNCIATION: TIG-uhr
MEANING: noun: Someone filled with energy, cheerfulness, and optimism.
ETYMOLOGY: After Tigger, a tiger in A.A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Earliest documented use: 1981.

Now I Know: The Kind of Amazing Thing That Happens When You Lose $13 and How Baseball Closed Its Tiny Loophole and When Speeding Won’t Get You There Any Faster and What Canada Has In Common With Romulans and How a Cute Cartoon Created a Catastrophe of Raccoons

Serena Versus the Drones

GHWB

The family trekked to Kennebunk and Kennebunkport ME the first weekend in October 2019. We got to pass through four states – NY, MA, NH, ME – in less than five hours. Twice in three days.

We went to a nice little museum, with a historical house. When it was in danger of closing in 2011, President George H.W. Bush offered to have some of his memorabilia be collected in one large room of the museum. This saved the day. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Bushes, but this was a kind and decent offer.

djt

Everything He’s an Expert In, According to Him

Mark Evanier has decided that until djt leaves office — and maybe even after — he “will feature one story each day about what he’s doing to The World, America, The Rule of Law, The Dignity of the Executive Branch and himself. He, of course, is concerned only with the last of these.”

His capitulation to Erdogan destroys U.S. credibility; by abandoning America’s Kurdish partners in Syria, the White House has sent a message to allies everywhere that Washington can’t be trusted. It’s just him being himself.

More Answers to Impeachment Objections

Alexander Hamilton warned that a man “unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents… despotic in his ordinary demeanour — known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty” might “throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.'” from “Founders foresaw Trump nightmare,” USA Today.com, October 7, 2019

Keeping Refugees Out Makes the United States Less Safe

MUSIC

Ginger Baker: A Jazz Drummer With a Rock Reputation

Viviane by Ernest Chausson

Beethoven: Symphony No.9 in D Minor, Op.125 – “Choral” – 4. Presto – Allegro assai · Jessye Norman · Reinhild Runkel · Robert Schunk · Hans Sotin · Chicago Symphony Chorus · Chicago Symphony Orchestra · Sir Georg Solti

Here, There And Everywhere – MonaLisa Twins

Hits from the Andrews Sisters’ songbook – Voctave

Jokerman – John Cruz

Coverville: 1280: Abbey Road 50th Anniversary Album Cover and 1281: Lindsey Buckingham Cover Story

Everybody’s Everything – Steve Winwood and Sheila E., Orianthi, honoring Carlos Santana at the Kennedy Center Honors

Once Upon a Time from The Princess Bride

Pitchfork: The 200 best songs of the 2010s; I own maybe a half dozen of them, and recognize perhaps that many more

The Unsolved Case of the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet

Annie Lennox: ‘Now I Let You Go…’

Who will remember us — and for how long?

mass moca.annie lennox The family, including all of my immediate in-laws, spent nearly a week in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts There’s a lot of cultural landmarks there, including the Norman Rockwell Museum, which I’ve been to at least thrice.

This year, my wife and I attended three other museums/galleries. First up, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, generally referred to as MASS MoCA.

One of the first things we saw was Annie Lennox’s ‘Now I Let You Go…’. This link will tell you most of what you need to know. A docent pointed out one thing I DIDN’T notice, that a piano on top of the pile shows up in shadow on a far wall, and it’s quite affecting. The musician had a vision for the piece, and contacted MASS MoCA, according to a radio interview. She writes:

We interact with an infinity of objects from birth to the grave.

Over time our ‘belongings’ become more steeped and resonant with memory and nostalgia.
In many ways, personal objects express aspects of who we are — our identity: our values: our statements and choices.

The passages of time through which we exist become defined by the objects with which we interact.

The artifacts contained within the earthen mound — partially buried — partially excavated — have all played a part in my life.

I have had a special connection to each item presented — a connection that has been hard to relinquish.

In time, we will all disappear from this earth.

This is our destiny.

What will we leave behind? Who will remember us — and for how long?

I heard music in the background that sounded like Eurhythmics’ Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, yet not exactly. It was the song played backward, it turns out.

Coincidentally, two other female musicians also had displays at the museum, but I saw neither. Unfortunately, the paintings of Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders leave at the end of August 2019. The work of Laurie Anderson will be there through 2020, but one has to make an appointment in advance.

Things we did see included Still I Rise (through May 2020), the ceiling lights of Spencer Finch’s Cosmic Latte, and the most impressive Hello America: 40 Hits from the 50 States, a new wall drawing by Joe Caldwell (the latter two through 2020 at least).

Admission is $20, but you can come back the next day for free. If our schedule had permitted, we would most certainly have done that. Since the last time we went – could it have been in 2007? – it had taken over far more repurposed old factory buildings than the handful where the museum once existed.