SOMETHING OLD
Blondie - Man Overboard
1976
Blondie - Man Overboard
1976
Despite the word "man" being half the title of a song with an album cover full of guys in suits, Blondie's Man Overboard is the surprisingly perfect way to helps us conclude Women's History Month.
In a studio called Plaza Sound above Radio City Music Hall, Blondie recorded their debut album and introduced to the world Debbie Harry's now beloved voice. This song, which isn't particularly well known, opens side 2 of the record and has a lot going for it. There's a delightfully eccentric synth solo, a fantastic rhythm section, and an overall buoyant (hence overboard) energy.
That being said, it's actually the voices here rather than the instruments that I'm interested in. First, the voice that beholds the power of everything behind this song is Debbie Harry. She holds the sole writing credit according to the record's liner notes and stretches her voice to its limits singing her own words. Harry is the number one face I see when I hear the words "New Wave" with her striking and chic look alongside her free spirited voice and attitude.
Another key vocal component is our three background singers: Ellie Greenwich, Micki Harris, and Hilda Harris. Apparently providing background vocals on the side, Ellie Greenwich was a prolific Brill Building songwriter who co-wrote immensely successful songs like The Ronettes' Be My Baby, The Crystals' Da Doo Ron Ron, Ike & Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High, and tons more. Wherever you think of Phil Spector, know that Ellie Greenwich was right beside him pen in hand. In a similar vein of the Spector sound, Micki Harris was previously a member of The Shirelles, while Hilda Harris' credits are a bit less known.
Needless to say, this hidden New Wave gem contains deeply cool female musical history.
SOMETHING NEW
Cornelia Murr + Céline Dessberg - Come Undone
March 4th, 2026
Cornelia Murr + Céline Dessberg - Come Undone
March 4th, 2026
Among many more somewhat mystical and flowery sentences, music writer Ry Welch said this of Cornelia Murr's 2025 album Run to the Center: "All parts becoming the bedrock that jointly float her panoply of poetry forward."
Following that release a year ago, she's already running her "panoply of poetry" back to the center with a single featuring harpist Céline Dessberg. It's short and dreamy, complete with soft-hearted synths and whistles, and subtle glimpses of Dessberg's Mongolian harp.
Murr says the song is about surrendering the control we simply do not get to have, "which is hard to do when you very badly want a certain outcome." The recording process embodied that message when she stepped into the studio alone with a certain vision and only added Dessberg when she stopped by to pick something up. It's sort of a perfect way to speak to that lack of control: the proof that even the unexpected can create something beautiful, and maybe even something better. Serendipity exists only outside the bounds of our control.
Following that release a year ago, she's already running her "panoply of poetry" back to the center with a single featuring harpist Céline Dessberg. It's short and dreamy, complete with soft-hearted synths and whistles, and subtle glimpses of Dessberg's Mongolian harp.
Murr says the song is about surrendering the control we simply do not get to have, "which is hard to do when you very badly want a certain outcome." The recording process embodied that message when she stepped into the studio alone with a certain vision and only added Dessberg when she stopped by to pick something up. It's sort of a perfect way to speak to that lack of control: the proof that even the unexpected can create something beautiful, and maybe even something better. Serendipity exists only outside the bounds of our control.
SOMETHING BORROWED
Lana Del Rey, Zella Day, & Weyes Blood - For Free (Joni Mitchell)
2021
Lana Del Rey, Zella Day, & Weyes Blood - For Free (Joni Mitchell)
2021
Joni Mitchell's For Free became an all-time favorite song of mine in high school. It's a heartbreakingly self-aware reflection of fame versus talent, comparing Mitchell's own "fortunes" and "velvet curtain calls" that are intrinsic to her music and success while a street clarinetist is ignored despite his talent and soul. There's a stunning piano arrangement that accompanies her voice in a raw way, with not much else other than a few harp notes, some strings toward the end, and a lingering clarinet solo in the outro that represents the man who plays "for free." Joni Mitchell has written countless stories in her songs. Whether they are true or not and whether they are about her or not does not matter, but this song has always felt deeply personal and real.
It's a particularly interesting meditation for one of the first wildly successful female singer-songwriters. She appears to be carrying a lot of guilt and empathy for this clarinetist, who she knows will not experience her success despite his talent. I'd be hard pressed to find a song where a man laments his female contemporaries getting overlooked, yet look at her, knowing how hard she herself had to fight to be listened to. Mitchell, in a bright yellow dress, had to interrupt her own performance to confront her audience at the Isle of Wight Festival to please stop talking and show her respect as she played the songs they supposedly came to hear. That moment erupted in applause, which is not insignificant.
Lana Del Rey, Zella Day, and Weyes Blood (my hero) have Joni Mitchell to thank for standing up for herself, for continuously putting out original music, and for ultimately opening the door for female songwriters to be heard and revered as much as men. Thankfully, they know that, which is why they honored her beautifully with this cover in 2021. Zella Day takes the first verse, then comes Lana Del Rey, and Weyes Blood concludes hauntingly. Throughout the song, the three of them occasionally come together to create stunning harmonies that add more body to the song.
Lana Del Rey, Zella Day, and Weyes Blood (my hero) have Joni Mitchell to thank for standing up for herself, for continuously putting out original music, and for ultimately opening the door for female songwriters to be heard and revered as much as men. Thankfully, they know that, which is why they honored her beautifully with this cover in 2021. Zella Day takes the first verse, then comes Lana Del Rey, and Weyes Blood concludes hauntingly. Throughout the song, the three of them occasionally come together to create stunning harmonies that add more body to the song.
SOMETHING... STICKY
Ravyn Lenae - Sticky
2017
Ravyn Lenae - Sticky
2017
Ravyn Lenae's success with Love Me Not last year was a breath of fresh air. I discovered her music quite a few years before that as a fan of Steve Lacy, who produced this Crush EP. It has that distinct Steve Lacy sound that I love, but it equally has that distinct Ravyn Lenae sound. Her breathy soprano voice is playful and has so much character, paying close attention to dynamics and giving each verse a different personality with the highs and lows of her voice.
Blending R&B with funk as much as it blends psychedelia with bubblegum pop, the young Lenae creatively paints a sticky portrait of a relationship that's starting to come loose.
Blending R&B with funk as much as it blends psychedelia with bubblegum pop, the young Lenae creatively paints a sticky portrait of a relationship that's starting to come loose.