Six String Sanctuary: Kinda fonda Wanda

Monday, August 8, 2011

Kinda fonda Wanda

The rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson was in the middle of a rip-roaring set at the Minnesota Zoo Saturday night when she paused to introduce her next number.

She said that when Jack White was producing her album The Party Ain't Over he asked her to record the Amy Winehouse song "You Know That I'm No Good." Jackson, 73, liked the the song but found some of the lyrics sexually explicit and age-inappropriate, a problem solved by White's rewrite of the offending second verse.

The song made the album, helping launch Jackson's spirited comeback, and Jackson became a fan of the troubled singer. She was planning to look up Winehouse during one of her frequent trips to England. Then Winehouse died suddenly at age 27.

"I'll never get to meet her," said Jackson, "but I'm going to keep playing this song."

Jackson and the Hillbilly Voodoo Dolls then launched into "You Know That I'm No Good" and the sky, as if on cue, opened up over the amphitheater. Some people scurried for cover but we hung in there and took the soaking, knowing it was just one of those moments that can't be explained but must be experienced.

1 comment:

AnonymousAugust 8, 2011 at 8:28 PM
What a voice -- what a performance! Wanda Jackson didn't miss a beat, come rain or mosquitoes, nor did her fans -- especially we new ones. The only bonus we wished for: an encore with Justin Townes Earle. He was phenom...
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Six String Sanctuary

Monday, August 8, 2011

Kinda fonda Wanda

1 comment:

Now them's blues

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