February 15 - For The Beauty Of Wynona

While I embraced the challenge of having themed weeks, I think it is time to let loose for a little bit and choose songs that simply speak to me at the moment. The early 90s were an interesting period in my life. I graduated high school in 1991, and that was the same time I became very active in the two teetotaling youth organization that eventually merged and became Juvente in 1992. At the same time, while my radio activity was on hiatus, I kept on exploring music, reading record covers like others read news papers, and becoming very curious on people in different roles on the records.

I knew about Brian Eno from loving music of both David Bowie and U2, but the one person I really started paying attention to was Daniel Lanois. As a producer, he worked with a lot of artists I really respected and loved. He was there with U2 through The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby!, he worked with Peter Gabriel on So and Us, Bob Dylan on Oh Mercy (although at this point I was still convinced that Bob Dylan was a great songwriter but a lousy performer - how wrong could I be), and Robbie Robertson on his solo debut that found its way to the studios of Radio Ung, where I discovered this underrated member of The Band. In the midst of all this, he also started recording his own music, and while I remember taping a copy of Acadie, which he released in 1989, it wasn't until quite a bit later I really discovered him as a musician.

I remember the cover from the album For The Beauty Of Wynona. It was hanging as a poster at Innova Musikk in Trondheim on the corner of Dronningens Gate and Nordre, if I remember correctly, and it depicted a naked skinny woman with a knife. The picture was taken from the side, so only the profile was showing, but yes, she was indeed naked. This must have been in 1993, when the album was released. A little while after the release, probably later that year or the following year, I found the tape at Innova, but in a bargain bin. I think I paid 19 NOK (2-3 dollars) for the tape, but for quite some time it was just laying around in my collection. When I finally took it out, I brought it with me in the car, and the opening track, The Messenger, was mesmerizing with its slow moving guitar riff and Lanois' hoarse voice on it, and I was thinking this was pretty good. I kept on listening, and eventually the tape turned and hit side 2. A few pretty good songs ensued, and then... The title track.

The percussion starts. The guitar limps in, but then... The guitar finds the groove and starts the riff, a riff that is even more hypnotic than The Messenger had been to begin the tape. The same hoarse voice... "The ingots are burning red, I'm working time and a half..." Then the bass enters, punching the song forward, to the very clear statement: "I tripped and then I fell for the beauty of Wynona." The song keeps adding layers. Electric guitar with e-bow and feedback come in and stay through the song. The guitar solo is haunting and beautiful. And then it ends. Just like that. And I am left emotionally drained, but I play it again. And again. And again. And today I am sharing it again. I have shared this song with a lot of people through the years, and listening to it again in preparation for this, I am once again feeling the emotional impact on the song.