I have seen Jim Morris live a number of
times and have been to – even hosted – lots of House Concerts. But, I have
never seen Jim Morris at a House concert. It’s on my Bucket List! Jim is one of
those rare singer/songwriters – like Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett - able to populate his songs with larger than
life characters. Whether it’s the serendipitous lover and her teacher and
banker friends in “Thursday Afternoon at the Conch House Lounge” or the
Tropical Man in “Laid Back and Key Wasted” - they may not ACTUALLY exist, but
they sure seem like they could – or should. I’d love to spend some quality time
listening to Jim talk about the stories behind his songs, find out how much is
truth with “names changed to protect the guilty” and how much is poetic
license.
Jim continues the tradition on his latest
cd, “The Man Who Offered the Moon”. Take track number nine, for example - “Long
Money” - where Jim gets booked to play a private party at a beachfront mansion
where the guests are “doctors and lawyers and assorted egomaniacs”. The women
in attendance are “surgically blessed and all those parts they purchased seem
to fit together well”. The host of the shindig, referred to only as the “Big
Dog”, is a “smiley fella” who has been “working hard turning paradise into
condos”. It’s a five and a half minute short film set to music. You can imagine
the “beautiful lady” when she walks in to the party, picture the manicured lawn
“littered with bottles of bourbon and vodka and gin”. It’s the sign of a great
songwriter when you can “see” the song, as well as hear it.
In “Party Dress”, the scene is another
party, this one “right there on the bayou, down around New Orleans”. The host
of this soiree is a fella named “Dickie Bones” who likes to drink and dance and
who “greets you when you come to call”. Beer and Margaritas flow, and a band
plays while “Frankie boils the crawfish”. Once again, it’s such a vivid picture
you’ll find yourself wishing you had been there!
Another reason Jim Morris sits among the
upper echelon of Trop Rock artists is his often understated sense of humor. I
say understated because he doesn’t resort to tired clichés – doesn’t hit you
over the head with the punch line. Take “Your Girlfriend Says Hello”: The hero
in the song quits the job that was making him unhappy, tells the boss “the
dream you were selling just didn’t work out” and runs off to enjoy sand and sea
with a new lady friend - who is, well the title says it all. The twist is that,
throughout the song she is referred to as “your girlfriend”, until the last
thirty seconds of the song when that changes to “MY girlfriend”. Then there is
“Tonight I Came Here To Drink”, where the singer tells a woman at the bar in a
skimpy dress and great legs to “stop pointing them at me”, then observes “I see
you’re from Brazil, or at least you appear to be”. That doesn’t mean Morris
can’t be blunt when he wants to. He also says “Came Here to Drink”, “It’s hard
to concentrate when I’m staring at your ass”. Or take “Mr. Right”. I don’t
think anyone is going to accuse him of subtlety when the object of the singer’s
affection is asked “Why don’t you do me?”
Other stand out tracks include the nostalgic
“One Layer of Clothes”, with Morris and a college buddy jumping into a sports
car and hitting the road in search of “ a world we’d never seen, things we’d
never done”. Who can’t relate to their younger days when money wasn’t important
and time was irrelevant? “The End Of Time” follows the popular Trop Rock scenario
of a guy who ditches the corporate world to find what really makes him happy,
including “sunny skies, salty air” and a “girl who says she loves me, fine
Jamaican Rum”. It includes one of my favorite Jim Morris lines of all time:
“I’ll be happy until the end of time, but I hope it never comes.” And, finally,
remember the old Disco nugget “It’s Raining Men”? Personally, I like Jim’s weather
report a whole lot better. “Raining Rum” tells the story of a guitar player who
“grew up in Kentucky on a rutabaga farm”, whose “mom died in a bar fight, and
“dad was Baptist preacher ‘till the cops found all the dope”. You’ll just have
to listen to the song to find out, as the late Paul Harvey would say, the rest
of the story. It’s another one of those colorful narratives that makes you want
to find out how much is based on reality and how much is pure fiction. One of
the most upbeat songs on the cd, it’s destined to be a Jim Morris concert
favorite.
Some additional details: Trop Rock heart
throb John Patti is responsible for the steel drums and percussion on “The Man
Who Offered The Moon” and twelve of the thirteen tunes are Morris originals –
the only cover being Rodney Crowell’s “Song For Life”.
