Don't know where to post this, but I've just discovered the new CD by Anjani and wanted to share the experience. It's entitled 'Blue Alert' and really is very good. If you're looking for something new to listen to, try it.

You can listen to some of it here.
Something different is always good. Thanks Colin.

Thank you clarebear - a fabulous link. I loved the captions over the song and am pleased that others appreciate her too. Maybe I should have posted my first message under "Jazz".

Thanks, Colin, for the name, and Clare for the link! I think it's generous of you to share your 'finds' with the rest of us. I like this performer, her phrasing is excellent.

I heard this song on the closing credits of a film, and ordered the CD. It's a little different, but I like it.

Somewhere

Babs,
Who is that? It's very nice. I can't recognize it. You said you liked "her". It sounds like a man singing. I can't tell.


Colin,
You should repost this in the jazz section too. (copy the link and add it to your post) I'm sure many would appreciate it.

Sorry, Clare, 'her' referred to Anjani.

The Somewhere singer is Iz Kamakawiwo'ole and he's of course from Hawaii. The CD I got is called Facing the Future.

Thanks.

Babs,
I heard Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole on the CBC one day, and was so moved by it, I bought the soundtrack to "Finding Forrester". The song is on that CD.

I like the YouTube version you linked us to, and I find watching the images, and listening to this huge man sing with such a wonderful sweet voice all the more poignant, because sadly he died in 1997.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Kamakawiwo'ole

Colin, thank you for recommending the Anjani CD to us. It's really beautiful. Hey what do you know, it's produced by Leonard Cohen.

Wow, Dancer, Finding Forrester is the movie I jumped on the credits for to find out the artist!

And right on about Cohen! The first of his I ever heard was on CBC television, he was in a Special back in the sixties, he was avant-garde then in Montreal. He was singing the Stranger Song, , and there he was, so intense but low-key, and I was simply transfixed as he sang that hypnotic song straight through. The goosebumps rose and I was hooked. I went out and bought "Songs by Leonard Cohen" as soon as it came out, even though I was dirt poor at the time.

The Stranger Song

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
I know that kind of man
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind
you find he did not leave you very much not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he'll never need to deal another
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.

And then leaning on your window sill
he'll say one day you caused his will
to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter
And then taking from his wallet
an old schedule of trains, he'll say
I told you when I came I was a stranger
I told you when I came I was a stranger.

But now another stranger seems
to want you to ignore his dreams
as though they were the burden of some other
O you've seen that man before
his golden arm dispatching cards
but now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger
And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.

Ah you hate to see another tired man
lay down his hand
like he was giving up the holy game of poker
And while he talks his dreams to sleep
you notice there's a highway
that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder
It is curling just like smoke above his shoulder.

You tell him to come in sit down
but something makes you turn around
The door is open you can't close your shelter
You try the handle of the road
It opens do not be afraid
It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It's you my love, you who are the stranger.

Well, I've been waiting, I was sure
we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for
I think it's time to board another
Please understand, I never had a secret chart
to get me to the heart of this
or any other matter
When he talks like this
you don't know what he's after
When he speaks like this,
you don't know what he's after.

Let's meet tomorrow if you choose
upon the shore, beneath the bridge
that they are building on some endless river
Then he leaves the platform
for the sleeping car that's warm
You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter
And it comes to you, he never was a stranger
And you say ok the bridge or someplace later.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind ...

And leaning on your window sill ...

I told you when I came I was a stranger.

I agree with everything you say about Leonard Cohen Babs. How old is he now? He's still as talented and sexy as ever.

Have you heard the song by Nancy White about Cohen? I couldn't find a link with the music sadly, but here are the lyrics:

“Leonard Cohen’s Never Gonna Bring My Groceries In”…

(if you hum along to the tune of “Famous Blue Raincoat” you’ll be in the right ballpark)

I was listening to music as I swept the kitchen floor.
I was needing a shampoo and I was pushing 44.
And I had one of those flashes that hits you now and then
About experience manqué and certain sadly missing men.
And I realized in horror as I stroked my double chin,
Leonard Cohen’s never gonna bring my groceries in!

I’ve a husband and a baby, there’s another on the way.
And, like Leonard, I am aching in the place I used to play.
But really, I’m enjoying all this domesticity.
Hey, I never have to deal with Warren Beatty’s vanity.
But there is one thing I regret, and my regret is genuine.
Leonard Cohen’s never gonna bring my groceries in.

Oh Leonard and me, together we’d be great.
Strumming our guitars and singing songs while it got late!
(Well, not TOO late, these days I kind of fold about eleven.
But for a little while it would be heaven, heaven, heaven.)
Oh, Leonard and me, we’d be so decadent.
We’d look at all those bottles, wonder where the wine all went.
(Well frankly I can’t drink it anymore, my head can’t take it.
But I know me and Leonard we could make it, make it.)
I love each line he's written, Except for maybe one:
"Nancy wore green stockings [Male chorus] and she slept with
everyone."*)
I thought: "What if somebody thinks he's singing about me?"
'Cause after all, I lived in Montreal in 1963.
And perhaps I was his type when I was young and sweet and thin.
But now Leonard's never gonna bring my groceries in.

Oh, Leonard and me, we're soulmates, there's no doubt.
I feel it in my heart, we'd have so much to talk about.
We'd hole up in the Tower of Song with coffee strong and bitter.
That is, of course, if I could get a sitter,
A sitter, a sitter.
Hey, I'm just some singer looking for a sitter.



(This last part is spoken by White over a gushing Cohen-type la-la female chorus)

OK wait! Leonard! Hey maybe Leonard could babysit. Yeah,
Oh he'd be wonderful, the girls would love him. He can read stories.
A poet can always use an extra five dollars an hour. He would be perfect.
How can I get his number? Hmm, Marie-Lynn Hammond she'll have his
number. I know she will. I'm going to call her right now. This is inspiring.
I am so happy! So Leonard Cohen can babysit and Doug and I can go to the
mall and pick out the new towels for the bathroom. [pause]
That's what I really want to do.
Of course, [pause and sexy, sotto voce] 'cause maybe I can be the
one to drive the babysitter home tonight.

Yeah, Kamakawiwo'ole's version of Over the Rainbow is definitely a nice cover. Great feel, extremely peaceful.

And I'm listening to Anjani. Not bad. There are a lot of good singers out there I bet you'd like. Are there any other similar singers you like?

Now if I could only find out the name of the last piece of music played in the movie "Get Shorty"...
naaah, I'll just get the soundtrack right now.

Also sample this one.

booker T & the MG's

Babs, here's a couple of links. Could the music to "Get Shorty" be here?

IMDb

Amazon

On the Amazon site you get to listen to a little of each track.

That first link helped, Dancer, it led me to Ken Freedman's Playlist and I e-mailed him.

See the thing is I've ordered the CD of the soundtrack, but I would like to get a CD of that particular group, too.

So thanks for the site, and I'll let you know the group soon.