1976
"Dip the brush of genius, stroke the canvas slow..."
Related archive: See how the cover art was restored.
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Liner Notes from the (out of print) CD
by David Campbell
Producer on the original recording sessions
|
"Tonight we're going to take your mind on a ride outside this universe," Jimmie Spheeris' trademark half whisper taunted the throng of 10,000 rowdy Cheech and Chong fans. In the ensuing 10 seconds, he had their attention riveted to his haunting piano intro for "The Nest". Jimmie's hushed, airy tones, banshee wails and snake charmer vocal riffs sent rapturous thrills through many enormous crowds in the early '70s, initially impatient audiences of unruly kids who came to see big name hard rock acts, only first to be surprised and tamed by a true dream weaver. It was my great fortune to be sometimes part of his troupe of time-travelling gypsies; a band consisting of piano, guitar, bass, flute and myself on viola, endeavoring to conjure up a whole orchestra to carpet Jimmie's musical visions. Wherever Jimmie performed, his listeners were drawn into his unusual world. He invoked a similar spell in the studio, always singing his own songs: artfully fashioned gems that could only originate from Jimmie Spheeris. On his fourth album, Ports of the Heart, he added to this delicious mix some classic songs by other writers. The vocal magic continued as if they were songs of his own creation. I still can feel the sensation from one summer evening session, as if my mind were floating in an air-cooled stream, as Jimmie wafted the melody of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", backed by Jim Cowger's sonorous sax lines. Another unforgettable session had Jimmie playacting the romantic mood of an earlier classic, "It's All in the Game", composed in 1912 from a poem written near the turn of the century. Most of the album, of course, is filled with songs of colorful vision, fantasy and sensuous life, all written by Jimmie, straight from his unmistakable creative world. When I listen to it now the music brings on the memory of how it felt in the living room of Jimmie's Venice, California beach house, where the room seemed always to glow from the spark of his most recent creations and with the energy and affection he inspired in his many close friends. I'd have thought by now that another singer would have achieved something similar to his unique voice, in the way that artists from prior eras become major influences on younger singers. So far, no one has. |
TRACK LIST
THE PLAYERS
|
JIMMIE SPHEERIS |
DAVID CAMPBELL |
|
STRINGS BACKING VOCALS |
PRODUCTION CREDITS - ORIGINAL LP
Produced by David Campbell
Engineered by Greg Ladayni
Strings arranged and conducted by David Campbell
Woodwinds arranged by Jim Cowger
Recorded and mixed at The Sound Factory,
Los Angeles - June, 1976
Dennis Kirk
second engineer
Val Garray
additional engineering
Al Clayton
photos
Ed Lee, Chris Peterson
design for the original Epic LP
FOR RAIN RECORDS
Executive Producer: Johnny Pierce
A&R Coordinator: Wayne Jackson
Cedarhouse Productions
Digitally remastered by Ellen Fitton
Manufactured by Sony Music
Additional liner photography by Jerry Simpson - Thresholds.net
CD liner and digital imaging by Andy Markley - art101
Child From Nowhere
you have arrived
and your arms are open wide
welcome home child from nowhere
to the sun
you sit and laugh
and can't recall your own past
child from nowhere
now your traveling is done
they branded you with pain
and said you'd never be the same
but here you are
laughing at the twinkling of the stars
you were alone in the darkness
you were thrown
falling through forever like a stone
breaking like glass
as each minute passed
shattered in the stillness
you had sown
they buried you in greed
just like a planter does a seed
but here you are
older than the twinkling of the stars
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
Emerald And The Dream Dance
visions of emerald beneath the moon
visions behind the stars
dream dancing darkly, sweeping with you
across the purple dunes of Mars
well, who are you child, the daughter of darkness?
or like water that spills to the drought?
well, I don't know just yet as I stand here
but I'm more than willing to find out
visions of emerald diving for jewels
empty-handed in the mirror
eyes like emeralds, deep drowning pools
they'll wash you clean inside their tears
and who am I child, behind the illusion?
just another soul losing to doubt?
well, I don't know just yet as I stand here
but I'm more than willing to find out
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
It's You They're Dreaming Of
everyone's looking for the perfect love
caught in the dance, it's you they're dreaming of
hoping for chance to grace their lives just once
with the only one
they seldom come
me, I'm a dreamer and I've always been
not so unlike you all, my weary friends
love comes and goes with me, it's gonna come again
it's like being born again
it'll never end
you say when I find you
this emptiness will fill up
with your tenderness
you know it will
you sit and hope so still
everyone's looking for the perfect wealth
looking to others, never to themselves
in savage innocence the search goes on
for the only one
we seldom come
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
Captain Comes Cold
captain comes cold to the ports of the heart
anchors the soul, smiles as it's sinking
he unfurls his sails, drifts and departs
you'll drown in the love you were drinking
so you're out on this reef, drunk, alone, and half asleep
and nothing will mend you back together again
seagulls drift by and you wish you could fly
away with the tide and the wind...
sail away
captain comes cold to the ports of the heart
watches the bar crowd leaving
dropping his line, he smiles and reels in his catch
shining for now and still breathing...
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
Bayou Eyes
bayou eyes shine in your windows
cajun black and creole blue
and city gentlemen with perfect teeth
come to pay your fee and spend the night with you
wake me up, wake me, come down Toulouse
we'll go running from the night
and out of darkness I will lay you down
and I will drown you in my light
come down, come down tonight
leave your silks and silver, come away with me
your love cuts like a knife
twisted in the heart of my sanity
bayou eyes shine in your windows
cajun black and creole blue
from trestled terraces you wove your spell
and this swamp boy fell in love with you
so throw your bag over the rusty rail
I'll be waiting at the docks
we'll catch a steamboat to the gulf and sail
where the trade winds wail and the free sea rocks
come down, come down tonight
leave your silks and silver, come away with me
your love cuts like a knife
twisted in the heart of my sanity
...wake me up, wake me down...
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
It's All In The Game
many a tear has to fall
but it's all in the game
all in the wonderful game
that we know as love
you've had words with him
and your future's looking dim
but these things
your heart can rise above
once in a while he won't call
but it's all in the game
soon he'll be there at your side
with a sweet bouquet
and he'll kiss your lips
and caress your waiting fingertips
and your heart will fly away...
Written by Carl Sigman and Charles Dawes in 1912.
(C) 1912, 1951 Warner Bros., Inc. (ASCAP), The Songwrier's Guild (ASCAP).
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
Hills In My Head
there's hills in my head, they're shining
and green ocean beds that roll
so come take your chances climbing
the summits inside this soul
come now, somehow, madness and wonder wait
from the past and the future, together
we will escape, you and I
running over hills in my head
there's dreams in your eyes, they're burning
and begging to shine tonight
so come take your chances turning
the dark into shimmering light
come now, somehow, madness and wonder wait
from the past and the future, together
we will escape, you and I
sailing through the light in your eyes
there's hills in my head, they're shining
and green ocean beds that roll
so come take your chances climbing
the summits inside this soul
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
Whirlpool
I'm wrapped up in you
I'm like a bird wrapped up in the wind
I'm gliding on these currents, up
and I'm always falling down again
and you've been on my mind
with those eyes staring our their spell
well, into them here I go again
I fell...
and I can't pull out, I'm in deeper than I knew
I'm sinking in your soul, like a leaf in a whirlpool
spinning 'round
'though I'm sitting here so very still
what you touched inside of me
I guess nobody else ever will
and you're always on my mind
you're like a demon there to haunt my day
pretty demon makes me want to run
you make me want to stay
and I can't pull out, I'm in deeper than I knew
I'm sinking in your soul, like a leaf in a whirlpool
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
Sweet Separation
I wanna feel that wind go whistlin' on the highway
lord, I think I'm free again and let that warm wind blow
do you ever feel like you could run and take off flyin'?
well, I do tonight, so baby move over and let me go
sweet separation
moving like a bird from the storm's eye
sweet separation
moving like a spirit from the sky
I wanna feel that rain come pouring on the highway
I wanna get wet and lay all over you
do you ever feel like you could bust inside a feelin'?
well, I do tonight, don't hold me back, I'm bustin' through
sweet separation
moving like a bird from the storm's eye
sweet separation
moving like a spirit from the sky
well, I know I shouldn't feel so happy that it's over
tears are in order here, but let that good sun shine
there is a sweet young thing and she's standing on the corner
and I got a feeling that tonight she will be mine
sweet separation
moving like a bird from the storm's eye
sweet separation
moving like a spirit from the sky
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
So Darkly Fall The Shadows
you play it in silence
your manner so strange
your watchful eye
catches the detail
others will miss
as they hurry by
paint the light that falls
and stall the sun a while
critics in your head laugh
and your love stands trial
you go walking in silence
where the green river rolls
you're so removed
deep and so restless
the renegade soul
still stands unmoved
but dip the brush of genius
stroke the canvas slow
it's here your only lover stands
in still life so cold
embrace it
you can't erase it
and you watch the lovers
that lay in the park
and you walk on home
colorless feelings emerge in the dark
where you lay alone
gelded are the gifted
is what you're thinking here
stare into the shadows you have sown
so darkly fall the shadows of the soul
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
Nightingale Come Sail
old black keys, come on, serenade me
sweep me up and let me go
nightingale once sailed by my window
now where she's gone I just don't know
her sweet song is gone with the winter
and it chills me to the bone
nightingale come sail to my sorrow
come home
come sail me home
summer wind come on back and soothe me
I feel like I'm getting old
they tell me that the dream is all over
where it's gone I sure don't know
still, somehow, amid all our suffering
a light shines where you have flown
nightingale come sail to our sorrow
come home
come sail us home
(C) (P) 1976, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
All rights reserved.
discography page | jimmie's home page | return to track list
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
hear the lonesome whippoorwill
he sounds to blue to fly
the midnight train is winding low
and I'm so lonesome I could cry
did you ever hear a robin weep
as leaves begin to die?
that means he's lost his will to live
and I'm so lonesome I could cry
the silence of a falling star
lights up the purple sky
and as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I'm so lonesome I could cry
Written by Hank Williams in 1949.
Hiriam Music (BMI) - Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. (BMI)
All rights reserved.
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