Covered: George Harrison, Volume 5: 2010-2014 | Albums That Should Exist (feat. Norah Jones and Flaming Lips)

 Covered: George Harrison, Volume 5: 2010-2014

Paul says: Here's the fifth "Covered" album out of six for ex-Beatle George Harrison.

As I mentioned in my write-up to the previous album, since Harrison tragically died in 2001, the volumes that come after that are playing catch up, with covers from all points in his music career. In fact, most of the songs here are from his Beatles years or from his great "All Things Must Pass" album, making this a particularly strong volume of familiar songs.

However, there's one song here that very few people will recognize, probably not even die-hard fans: "Silence Is Its Own Reply." Admittedly, including it here is a bit of a stretch, but I decided to do so anyway because it's a good song, and it's unlikely you'll find it elsewhere.

There's an interesting story behind this song. Around 1967 or 1968, Harrison wrote about ten lines of song lyrics on a piece of paper, and gave it the title "Silence Is Its Own Reply." At the time, author Hunter Davies was writing an authorized biography about the Beatles. While writing that, he asked for writing samples from each of the Beatles. These lyrics were given to him to show Harrison's writing. Davies published his book, simply called "The Beatles," in 1968, but the lyrics weren't included or mentioned. Then, decades later, around 2009, Davies rediscovered the lyrics while combing through his archives of papers as he prepared to write an updated version of his Beatles book. He mentioned the lyrics in a BBC interview. The BBC DJ was intrigued, and got a copy of the lyrics. That DJ then passed the lyrics on to a singer-songwriter named Dean Johnson, and gave him the opportunity to finish the song. 

Johnson did, and I think the result is very good. Keep in mind that only the title and the first verse were written by Harrison. Johnson came up with the melody and the lyrics for a second verse and bridge. But I think that still counts as a legitimate co-write. Unfortunately though, it seems that the song was never officially released, probably due to legal complications arising from Harrison's contribution. But I found a version Johnson performed for the BBC, cleaned up the sound some, and I'm including it here.

Adding to the interest, at first glance, the lyrics appear to be about romance. But when Johnson was asked about the meaning of the song, he had this to say: "The lyrics are of a personal nature and were first thought to be a song of unrequited love but, in hindsight, they seem to allude to George's uneasy relationship with John Lennon. This is substantiated by first-hand observations by Hunter Davies and by people close to Harrison." He said he did his best to follow through with the original meaning Harrison gave to the song.

In case you're curious, here's the portion of the lyrics written by Harrison:

I'm happy to say that it's only a dream
When I come across people like you
It's only a dream and you make it obscene
With the things that you think and you do
You're so unaware of the pain that I bear
And jealous for what you can't do
There's times when I feel that you haven't a hope
But I also know that isn't true

And every time I ask you why
Silence is its own reply 

Here's a newspaper article about the song: 

https://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/4687467.wirrals-dean-finishes-lost-george-harrison-song/

The only other comment I have to make about this album is that two other songs here are also officially unreleased, "Any Road" by Phil Lesh and Friends, and "Heading for the Light" by Susan Cowsill. Both had sound quality issues. I think I was able to fix those problems for "Any Road." But "Heading for the Light" still sounds pretty rough. However, it's one of my favorite Harrison songs from later in his career, so I had to at least include a version. If anyone finds a better version that it's a virtual carbon copy of the original, please let me know and I'll use that instead. (And it definitely is mostly written by Harrison, despite being credited to all of the Traveling Wilburys.) 

This album is one hour long. 

01 All Those Years Ago (Emmy the Great)
02 Apple Scruffs (Billie Amit)
03 Think for Yourself (Christine Collester)
04 Your Love Is Forever (Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou)
05 I Need You (Webb Sisters)
06 Silence Is Its Own Reply (Dean Johnson)
07 Awaiting on You All (Michael Carpenter)
08 Ding Dong, Ding Dong (Popdudes)
09 Art of Dying (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club)
10 Any Road (Phil Lesh & Friends)
11 Beware of Darkness (Ann Wilson)
12 Heading for the Light (Susan Cowsill)
13 Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp [Let It Roll] (Jonathan Bates & Dhani Harrison)
14 Behind That Locked Door (Norah Jones)
15 It's All Too Much (Flaming Lips)

Behind That Locked Door (George Harrison) -  Norah Jones Live on Conan

The Flaming Lips - It's All Too Much Live at George Fest George Harrison

Birthdays: Norah Jones | Don's Tunes

 Happy 47th birthday to Norah Jones!

 

"Part of the reason I signed with Blue Note was because I knew they weren't going to turn me into some pop thing, and that's the concern with big labels. I'm not trying to sell zillions of records, I just want to keep making them and knew if I sold a small amount they'd keep me on. And I was excited by the fact they didn't put pressure on me.

"I know there are people who are very straight-ahead jazz snobs who don't listen to anything else. But the fact is times have changed. I come from a very strong jazz background and for about six years that was all I listened to, but right now this is the evolution I've taken with it. And I just happen to be on a jazz label."

Graham Reid Interview 2003

Photo: Danny Clinch

Don's Tunes

 

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me

PHEW!

Norah Jones Is Playing Along with Martha Wainwright (Podcast Season 2 Episode 24)

Norah Jones Is Playing Along with Martha Wainwrightght 

PODCAST | Norah Jones Is Playing Along with James Bay (Season 2 Episode 11)

 A fan of both Norah and James Bay the Plays Along With  . . . . Series continues and is REALLY worth a listen

Norah Jones Is Playing Along with James Bay (Podcast Season 2 Episode 11)

Norah Jones- Heart of Mine (Bob Dylan cover)

 Norah Jones- Heart of Mine (Bob Dylan cover)

again someone posted this on line at Facebook and what a version it is!?

 I know not everyone who visits likes or enjoys Bob Dylan and I do get it but heck you have to admit his songwriting is up there with the very best of them . . . . I love this song and it comes to full appreciation here from the wonderment that is Norah Jones

Norah Jones on meeting Ray Charles . . . Don’s Tunes

Photo: Joyce Tenneson

 

 Norah Jones: "When I met Ray Charles I couldn’t stop crying. Twenty-something years ago, still new to the game, I was in a show honouring Elton John. Ray and I were introduced in the parking lot – I bawled uncontrollably. I was raised on his music. A few months later, we sang together for his last album before he died. That was a special day in the studio."

How did you develop the style that we hear on that record, combining elements of jazz, country, and singer/songwriter pop?

"That’s most of it, but there is also blues and soul – all the great American musical artforms. It came from growing up in a house, listening to Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson. Then, later in high school with Bill Evans and Miles Davis, and I got deep into jazz, and that became my focus for awhile. When I moved New York, I was still deep into jazz, but was beginning to open up to other styles. I started going to the Living Room in New York City, and seeing all these songwriters. I had written a couple of songs in high school, but they embarrassed me so badly that I never wrote after that, but when I started going to singer/songwriter clubs, like the Living Room, I was inspired to start writing songs again. Also, in New York, I started missing country music. I was longing for my Texas roots. I think that’s where that came from – either missing my roots, and finding a way to bring country back into the mix, or realizing that it had been there all along. "

Don's Tunes

Norah Jones - Tryin' to Keep It Together - Non-Album Tracks (2020-2023) | Albums That Should Exist

 Norah Jones - Tryin' to Keep It Together - Non-Album Tracks (2020-2023)

Paul says: Here's another collection of non-album tracks from Norah Jones.

The Covid pandemic dominated 2020 until 2022. During that time, Jones kept quite busy with frequent home concerts. She played enough unique songs in those concerts for me to post two albums of those (as well as all of his home concerts in full). This avoids all of that in other to avoid duplication. Additionally, during this time she hosted a podcast and played even more unique songs. I'm avoiding all those as well. Hopefully those will be the subject of a future album or two posted here, though she also has released an album of highlights from her podcast, called "Playing Along."

The first two songs are bonus tracks from her album "Pick Me Up Off the Floor." Tracks 3, 4, 7, 8, and 10 are unreleased. All of those are from concerts, though most of those were not in front of audiences due to the Covid pandemic at the time. For the two that did have audience applause, I got rid of that using the MVSEP program, so they would better fit in with the studio tracks.

Tracks 5 and 6 are bonus tracks from her 2021 Christmas album, "I Dream of Christmas." The song "I Dream of Christmas" was co-written by Jones, so it's a bit strange it was only a bonus track for the album that was given the same name as the song. Track 9, "Steer Your Way," is from a Leonard Cohen tribute album. The last two are also from a concert, but an officially released one, celebrating Willie Nelson's 90th birthday. 

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 Street Stranger 
02 Tryin' to Keep It Together
03 Yes We Can Can (Norah Jones with Emily King, Abeena Koomson-Davis & Amy Helm)
04 Help Me 
05 I Dream of Christmas
06 The Christmas Waltz 
07 I've Got a Feeling 
08 Let It Be 
09 Steer Your Way
10 The Warmth of the Sun
11 Seven Spanish Angels (Allison Russell & Norah Jones)
12 Down Yonder 

All tracks Norah Jones [unless indicated otherwise] 

now this one is interesting for obvious reasons . . . . . . . 

Norah Jones - I've Got A Feeling (Live At The Empire State Building)

we posted the Empire Set rooftop gig before ad here’s another song . . . . .recognise this one!?

Norah Jones - PBS Soundstage St. Ann's Warehouse New York 2010 | ALBUMS THAT SHOULD EXIST

 

Norah Jones - PBS Soundstage, St. Ann's Warehouse, New York City, 1-27-2010

Paul says : The flood of "PBS Soundstage" concerts continues with a 2010 concert by Norah Jones.

In November 2009, Jones released the studio album "The Fall." It was one of her better reviewed albums, and it sold well, selling three million copies worldwide. She went on practically every show that allows musical performances to promote it, including this one.

Most of the songs are from that album. However, at the end she played her two biggest hits ("Don't Know Why" and "Come Away with Me") plus a cover of "Strangers" by the Kinks.

I had a really tough time finding a source for this. As I write this in April 2025, the video can't be found on YouTube, and the audio isn't on any of the usual bootleg sites. But I dug deep and eventually found a way to stream it, recorded the audio as I streamed, then converted those to mp3s.

This album is 52 minutes long. 

01 talk
02 I Wouldn't Need You 
03 Tell Your Mama 
04 talk 
05 Light as a Feather 
06 Even Though 
07 Young Blood 
08 It's Gonna Be 
09 December 
10 Man of the Hour 
11 talk 
12 Back to Manhattan
13 Sinkin' Soon 
14 Come Away with Me 
15 Strangers 
16 Don't Know Why 

Norah Jones on meeting Ray Charles

 Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and, as of 2023, had sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000s decade. She has won nine Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the 2000s decade chart.

“When I met Ray Charles I couldn’t stop crying. Twenty-something years ago, still new to the game, I was in a show honouring Elton John. Ray and I were introduced in the parking lot – I bawled uncontrollably. I was raised on his music. A few months later, we sang together for his last album before he died. That was a special day in the studio.

I don’t make music for awards, but sure, they feel good. My first record won five Grammys. All I remember from that night was being starving and Aretha Franklin handing me a statue. The day after, a picture of my apartment was on a newspaper front page: I couldn’t go home. Then my boyfriend had a tragic family death. It put things in perspective.”

Norah is the daughter of Woodstock performer Ravi Shankar who performed on day one of the Woodstock Festival on Friday night August 15, 1969 from 10:00 ~ 10:45 PM. Norah’s mother is Sue Jones, a New York concert producer. After her parents separated in 1986, Jones lived with her mother, growing up in Grapevine, Texas. At the age of 16, with both parents' consent, she officially changed her name to Norah Jones.

Norah’s half sister Anoushka Shankar is a world class musician and sitar player of great renown. She has received nine Grammy Awards nominations and was the first musician of Indian origin to perform live and to serve as a presenter at the ceremony. She was the youngest and first woman to receive a British House of Commons Shield. Anoushka is the daughter of Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Rajan.

 

ADVERT BREAK : NORAH JONES has a new album coming MARCH 8th

 "STARING AT THE WALL"

Listen to “Staring At The Wall” available here: https://NorahJones.lnk.to/SATWID Pre-Save Norah's New Album, 'Visions' out March 8th: https://NorahJones.lnk.to/VisionsPreS... Connect with Norah: http://www.norahjones.com   / norahjones     / norahjones     / norahjones     / norahjonestiktok   See Norah Jones live: https://NorahJones.lnk.to/TourID Directed by Kyle Paas Produced by Norah Jones & Kyle Paas

Norah Jones - Unique Home Concert Songs, Volume 1 (2020) | Albums That Should Exist

Norah Jones - Unique Home Concerts - Albums That Should Exist 2020

Paul says:

This is an unusual album for me to post, because everything I've posted here has been posted before. I've posted no less than 14 albums of Norah Jones' home concerts from 2020. That's a lot of music. That vast majority of that consisted of Jones playing songs that she'd already done elsewhere. I think it was interesting hearing them done in solo acoustic mode, usually quite different from the album versions, but they had been done before. So I thought it would be useful to gather up all the songs from those home concerts that were unique to just those concerts and never recorded anywhere else. It turns out there was enough for two albums. So this is the first one.

The songs here are presented in chronological order of when she performed them. She started in mid-March 2020, mere days after the Covid pandemic became a worldwide phenomenon, and this album continues until mid-June 2020. The vast majority of the songs are covers.

If you look at the mp3 tags, you can see which songs are from which albums I've made. But since many people don't know how to look at those, I'll also explain here. The first six songs are from "Home Concerts 1." The seventh song is from "Home Concerts 2." The eighth song is from "Home Concerts 3." The ninth song is from "Home Concerts 4." The tenth song is from "Home Concerts 5."

This album is 38 minutes long.

01 Patience (Norah Jones)

02 Joey (Norah Jones)

03 You and Me (Norah Jones)

04 Lucky (Norah Jones)

05 I Remember Clifford [Instrumental] (Norah Jones)

06 I Am Missing You (Norah Jones)

07 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Norah Jones)

08 Permanently Lonely (Norah Jones)

09 I'll Be Seeing You (Norah Jones)

10 Light Wind Blowing (Norah Jones)

SOUND OF THE DAY :: NORAH JONES - Why Am I Treated So Bad? [Questlove and Christian McBride]

 

Norah Jones, Questlove and Christian McBride - Why Am I Treated So Bad (Live)

wow! . . . . . . just WOW!

Hotter n September! Cookin’ . . . . . right there!

Connect with Norah:

http://www.norahjones.com

https://www.instagram.com/norahjones/

https://www.facebook.com/norahjones/

https://twitter.com/NorahJones

https://www.tiktok.com/@norahjonestiktok Director / Producer – Sarah Oda Editor – Patrick Yonally Written by: Roebuck Staples Recorded at at Sear Sound, New York, NY

Director / Producer – Sarah Oda

Editor – Patrick Yonally

Written by: Roebuck Staples

Recorded at at Sear Sound, New York, NY

Norah Jones - Theatre Antique, Vienne, France, 11th July 2023 | Albums That Should Exist

Norah Jones - Theatre Antique, Vienne FRANCE 2023 - Albums That Should Exist

Norah Jones – vocals, piano, guitar Brian Blade – drums, vocals Chris Morrissey – bass, vocals Dan Lead – guitars, pedal steel

This album is an hour and nine minutes long. 

01 What Am I to You (Norah Jones)
02 Sunrise (Norah Jones)
03 Flame Twin (Norah Jones)
04 This Life (Norah Jones)
05 Killing Time (Norah Jones)
06 Little Broken Hearts (Norah Jones)
07 Rosie's Lullaby (Norah Jones)
08 All a Dream (Norah Jones)
09 The Nearness of You (Norah Jones)
10 Say No More (Norah Jones)
11 Come Away with Me (Norah Jones)
12 Nightingale (Norah Jones)
13 talk [Edit] (Norah Jones)
14 Don't Know Why (Norah Jones)

15 I've Got to See You Again (Norah Jones)

Wow from a couple of days ago from Paul over at ATSE

Norah Jones - Vienne France 2023 - 

Norah Jones - Hungary 2023 - Don’t Know Why

NORAH JONES Hamburg 2002, Live at the Musikhalle, Kleine Saal, Hamburg, Germany: October 18, 2002 | Big O

 Start your week with this beauty. Norah Jones in Hamburg 2002. Radio FM broadcast and is staggering quality . . . if you play one ROIO make it this

Norah Jones Hamburg 2002 - Big O

+ + + + +

Track 01. Nightingale 4:50

Track 02. One Flight Down 3:12

Track 03. Feelin’ The Same Way 3:52

Track 04. Seven Years 3:04

Track 05. Come Away With Me 3:29

Track 06. What Am I To You 3:50

Track 07. Peace 3:46

Track 08. Painter Song 2:42

Track 09. Lonestar 3:32

Track 10. The Worst 2:22

Track 11. I’ve Got To See You Again 4:55

Track 12. Don’t Know Why 4:02

Track 13. Something Is Calling You 3:08

Track 14. Long Day Is Over 3:04

50 mins

Lineup:

Norah Jones - vocals, piano, organ

Adam Levy - guitar

Lee Alexander - bass

Andrew Borger - drums

Daru Odu - backing vocals

Blue Christmas from Norah (Atop The Empire State Building)

 Some Blasts From The Past for 

CHRISTMAS!

Norah Jones - Run Run Rudolph

Live from The Empire State Building

Merry Christmas from The Fabs!

Paul Brady - Arthur McBride  

 Kathryn Williams / Carol Ann Duffy  

 Leon Redbone and Dr John (yes really!?)  

 Emilia Clarke - Last Christmas

Leon Redbone - Blue Christmas

Kate Rusby - Winter Wonderland

 

 Mike Heron - Feast of Stephen

Bunny Yeager wishes you all a Merry Christmas! (Poacher turned Gamekeeper she became the most prolific glamour photographer especially of her friend and model Bettie Page)