{"id":41641,"date":"2009-08-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/mixed-bag\/"},"modified":"2009-08-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-14T00:00:00","slug":"mixed-bag","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/mixed-bag\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixed Bag"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever have one of those days? You know what I am referring to \u2013 when you wake up and think: What\u2019s the point of getting up? I\u2019d rather stay in bed and listen to Simon And Garfunkel. <\/i>If you have ever had this experience, Richie Havens\u2019s hit 1967 album Mixed Bag <\/i>is for you. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cMorning\/ Morning\/ (I) feel so lonely in the morning,\u201d sings Havens in the beautifully folksy \u201cMorning, Morning.\u201d <\/i>This hopeful melancholy remains a theme of the album. Although Mixed Bag <\/i>is truly a \u201cmixed bag\u201d musically, ranging from protest folk (\u201cHandsome Johnny\u201d) and Bossa Nova (\u201cSandy\u201d) to meditational spiritualism (\u201cAdam\u201d), all the songs are thematically similar: self doubt, loneliness, failure, and fear.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Take Havens\u2019s swing rendition of Jesse Fuller\u2019s \u201cSan Francisco Bay Blues.\u201d The song is about a woman he loves dearly, described as \u201cthe best girl I ever had.\u201d But nothing good lasts and Havens treated her so badly that she left on an ocean liner. Life is ugly!<\/o:p><\/p>\n

While \u201cSan Francisco Bay Blues\u201d is disheartening, it pales in comparison to the aforementioned \u201cMorning, Morning.\u201d <\/i>Starting out the day with loneliness and fear is one thing, but one would hope our minstrel feels differently in the evening. Not for Havens. He softly admits, \u201cNighttime \/ Nighttime \/ Does not bring me to relief.\u201d Poor sap!<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Since Havens did not write most of the album, some may wonder why I am focusing so much on its lyrical content. Well, whether Havens is singing Gordon Lightfoot (\u201cHigh Flyin\u2019 Bird\u201d), Bob Dylan (\u201cJust Like A Woman\u201d), the Beatles (\u201cEleanor Rigby\u201d), or an original, he masters the art of staying thematically intact. His dark baritone voice and famous \u201copen D\u201d guitar-tuning echo the hopeful melancholy chronicled in the lyrics. So when Havens belts \u201cWhat\u2019s the use of singing this song? \/ Some of you are not even listening\u201d in his protest original \u201cHandsome Johnny,\u201d his self-doubt is entirely believable.\u00a0 He has something to express with Mixed Bag. <\/i>He just relies on both his and other\u2019s compositions to do it.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

What is the point of listening to an album filled with fear, loneliness, and self-doubt? <\/i>Maybe it reflects a stark reality. The late 1960s brought a plethora of failed attempts. The peace movement did not stop the Vietnam War, civil rights leaders were murdered, politicians betrayed the American people, and Jonestown and Charles Manson permanently scarred hippie movements. Our own lives are filled with failures, doubts, and fears. Havens reminds us that we are not alone. That is enough for me.
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