She's the flowers, the wind and spring...
My boss has requested a review on a song, from a personal stand point. I have chosen to write about
Almaz by Randy Crawford
It’s strange listening to it with purposeful but analytical ears. Naming the pieces of the journey that it takes me on has been really quite moving, so thank you for the request…
I absolutely adore the piano, and this song is also one of my Mum’s all time favourites,
She would play it every Saturday full blast and I remember so clearly her passion when she sang along, with a voice almost as beautiful.
I see now that the warmth of it comes largely with the association with my Mum. When she sings she is most free, and I would watch her disappear until she was totally inside the song, her small release from the outside she had to endure.
The first 8 bars of that piano take me back to the feelings of Saturday mornings. The security of the chaos that ensued as the 3 of us played up while Mum pulled out the chairs, and asked us to lift up our feet so she could get the Hoover in the gap; then I remembered how ‘ickle’ I was; and that it was ages before I was included in the ‘lift your feet up club’
The piano and the warm security, if I close my eyes, it takes just 4 bars and I am back there
And then I am taken to school, trumpet lessons with my unforgettable music teacher. He played the piano and I think it’s the only reason why I played the trumpet for so long. He would accompany my terrible playing and I was just lost in his talent and the magic sound that is produced by them keys. School was a miserable place mostly, but never ever while he was playing the piano.
And then Randy begins singing, an amazing soulful uplifting voice with depth that belies the sweet high tones she owns too; as I hear her begin to tell the story, her voice though gentle, is rammed packed full of feeling. It reminds me of birds singing as well.
Her voice is effortless, and just stunning
The Lyrics
I think they are multi-dimensional so I’ll start with Almaz the woman
I think about her and for some reason the word wistful rises and fits, I didn’t even know until now that I knew of that word, yet in my unsurety, I know it’s the right one.
I admire her; I can imagine her so clearly, not visually, but her presence. It’s as though I know her so well, I could tell you what she would say and do in a world of places, outside of the song.
She’s young and she isn’t damaged, she is charmingly naive…
I wish I could say that I had been like her once, but I wasn’t. I don’t feel sad that I was never this innocent, yet there is a small part of me that sees and yearns for the beauty and memories of once being like that.
Randy and I become one in our opinions as she views her life and tells the story, I feel exactly the same about her, part of me wanted to be her once. But neither Randy nor I feel any jealousy when we say you lucky lucky lucky thing, we are too enamoured with her for sadness, or the usual complexity of feeling that is normally experienced in ‘women viewing women’.
When she asks – But will life bend her? I feel heavy and I know that life will, and that her innocence is a time controlled gift. I don’t want her to lose it, but I of course know that she will
The love she has from and for the man in the song, who features but never ever becomes equal to her in any part of it,
Well I was loved like this once and the bitter-sweet lines that remind me of that love are painful and they are new. I don’t want them in this song but for now at least, he has become part of Almaz too. He will never be anywhere equal to her though, her or her wonder. He is a small part, much like her lover in the song. But a painful part none the less
Musically the most magic moment for me comes from seconds 3.02 to 3.28 in the song (link below). The mix of her voice, the melody line, and the accompaniment is beyond perfection.
The lines that impact me most…
Cause life don’t haunt her
The love that innocence brings
But will life bend her
I look around is she everywhere
With love so captive, so solely captive
She shares his wishes
I ask if I could play the part…
Almaz
She only smiles
He only tells her
that she’s the flowers, the wind and spring
In all her splendour sweetly surrendering
The love that innocence brings
**
Almaz, pure and simple
Born in a world where love survives
Now men will want her
‘Cause life don’t haunt her
Almaz, You lucky lucky thing
Now I watch closely
And I watch wholly
I can’t imagine love so rare
She’s young and tender
But will life bend her
I look around is she everywhere
** chorus
He throws her kisses
She shares his wishes
I’m sure he’s keen without a doubt
With love so captive
So solely captive
I ask if I could play the part
** chorus
Almaz, You lucky lucky thing
Almaz, You lucky lucky thing.
