Tag Archives: Mountain

Song of the Week – Mountain, Hannah Cohen

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Ignored             Obscured              Restored

I’ve been listening to the 4th album by Hannah Cohen, called Earthstar Mountain.  (The title Earthstar comes from a species of mushroom that Cohen came across while foraging on her farm.)  Cohen is a singer/songwriter who was born in San Francisco, lived for 15 in New York City, but now calls the Catskills, just outside Woodstock, her home base.

Certain tracks on the album harken back to the Buckingham/Nicks era ‘70s albums with Fleetwood Mac.  That is especially accurate for the track “Mountain.”

I’ll just play it on over and over again
A love like that won’t ever end
We could be like this or that instead
I miss you bad I miss my friend

The song about losing a close friend gets some help from Sufjan Stevens on backing vocals.  Cohen told Rolling Stone that writing the song “was an exorcism of grief.”

Fans of the smooth vocal style of Norah Jones on her Come Away with Me record.  In fact, Cohen credits Jones with teaching her how to sing harmony.

Cohen’s move to the country from NYC has had a profound impact on her relationships, songwriting, and view of life.  The natural beauty and seasonal changes have affected her in a profound way.  Listen to her new album to immerse yourself in her Earthstar Mountain fantasy.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Taunta/Nantucket Sleighride, Mountain

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Ignored           Obscured            Restored

Mountain was guitarist Leslie West’s band, but was also a vehicle for the artistic expression of Felix Pappalardi (bass, guitar, keys, vocals, production, songwriting).

Mountain’s second album was Nantucket Sleighride (1971).  The title song was written by Pappalardi and his then girlfriend (later wife) Gail Collins, who also painted the album’s cover artwork.

For today’s SotW I’m including the 1 minute long “Taunta” with “Nantucket Sleighride (to Owen Coffin)” because to my ear they are inextricable.

By now, most of you have probably heard that a “Nantucket sleighride” refers to what happens to a boat full of whalers when they harpoon a whale that tries to swim away.

The song was written to fictionalize the true story of a tragic whaling expedition in 1820.  The sperm whale they attempted to kill sunk their boat.  The crew survived on small whaleboats but most of them died, one-by-one.  When it got down to the final four, they drew straws to decide who would be sacrificed for the other three to cannibalize.  Poor Owen Coffin, the youngest crewman, lost.

Collins wrote the lyrics to the song that begins:

Goodbye, little Robin Marie
Don’t try following me
Don’t cry, little Robin Marie
‘Cause you know I’m coming home soon

My ships’ leaving on a three-year tour
The next tide will take us from shore
Windlaced, gather in sail and spray
On a search for the mighty sperm whale

No mention of poor Owen Coffin, but who is Robin Marie?  It turns out Robin Marie was a woman Pappalardi was cheating on Collins with.  Collins passive-aggressively wrote her into the song and then sent her man away for three years!

Although Pappalardi and Collins ended up getting married, their relationship continued to be stormy.  In 1983 she shot and killed him with a gun he had given her as a gift.

Enjoy… until next week.