‘The Long Tunnel of Wanting You’ is the first track. The sensual, luscious poetry describes the longing for and remembrance of penetrative sex. Daou’s breathy vocals are perfect for this and other songs, conveying an intimacy that perfectly matches the words. She could just as easily be lying in bed with a lover, singing her desires to them, as recording the song in a studio. Peter Daou, Vanessa’s husband and Jong’s nephew, produced this album, and provides the instrumentation, including the jazzy piano.

‘Dear Anne Sexton’ describes the supplanting of poet Anne Sexton in the affections of the narrator by a young man.

“He is like no one I’ve loved.
His cock sinks deep in my heart.”

“Live or die” Sexton said, and Jong/Daou chooses the first, while Sexton herself chose the second.

‘Alcestis on The Poetry Circuit’ is one of the best poems and songs on the album. Detailing the ways women abuse themselves, Daou’s cool voice narrates rather than sings:

“The best slave
does not need to be beaten.
She beats herself.”

“& after she dies, we will cry
& make her a saint.”

The music, sophisticated and jazzy, brings a kind of irony to an already bitter edged poem.

‘Sunday Afternoons’ is a remembrance of a past affair with a lover, who “smelled of other women.” The sadomasochistic nature of some of these Jong poems can be seen here, but Daou’s breathy vocals softens the imagery and the words:

We would embrace on the floor-
You see my back’s still sore
You knew how easily I bruised

Autumn Perspective follows, a wonderful poem beautifully put to music, and again recited rather than sung. Using the metaphor of moving into a new home, the poem has some truly evocative lines:

finding the dirty ends of someone else’s life,
hair fallen in the sink, a peach pit,
and burned out matches in a corner

The poem looks both forwards into the future and back into the past. Moving represents a new life, a fresh start, as well as the end of an old life. But here the narrator sees herself in the future, older, trapped in the metaphor of high heeled shoes that pinch, looking back, envious of her younger, sandaled self.

And we have plans that will not tolerate
our fears - a year laid out like rooms
in a new house -

The future is something to wait for, the room is seen as it will be rather than as it really is. Lives are postponed, subject to plans.

‘Near The Black Forest’ made it into the US charts, and is the song from the album people are most likely to be familiar with. The words are simpler than previous poems, and the sexual metaphors continue. The chorus is catchy, but the song overall lacks the sensual language of other numbers.

‘My Love Is Too Much,’ however, returns to the more overt language of earlier poems. Again, Daou recites, and her voice seems ideal for Jong’s words. And these words speak of intense love, too hot to handle. The beloved would prefer a girl with simpler needs, wining and dining, the occasional blow job.

& needs that are never
red as gaping wounds
but blue and cool
as television screens

Love, the song says, is never cool, it can pretend coolness, until babies come. The love the beloved seeks cannot be found, “except in the white pages of recipe books.”

‘Becoming A Nun’ asserts the possibility of living without sex, yet it’s clear that this is not going to be easy. “Becoming” is the key word. She has not become a nun, she “thinks” she can live without sex. There are no high heels here, she’s wearing boots, marching “over cobblestones like heads of men I have known.”

One of the gems of the album is ‘Smoke,’ because here we have Erica Jong herself reciting a poem about “the last time I got stoned.” The music has a rhythmic trippy quality. It also has the ethereal nature of smoke in parts. The poetry itself has wonderful lines:

Turning the pages of memory
As if they were a book
I wrote with smoke
In the margins of my life

The album ends with an instrumental reprise of ‘Autumn Perspective.’

This is music for anyone who loves beautiful poetry, erotica, or trippy jazz. The words express raw emotions and female sexuality in a truer sense than the pop music of MTV. Vanessa Daou’s album is a worthwhile addition to any music collection. It’s also an album largely overlooked by the public. The poetry can be found in the album notes or in Erica Jong’s collection, ‘Becoming Light.’
RATING: 9/10 - Sexy, sophisticated, sensual, thoughtful, intimate.

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Kara Kellar Bell is a 38 year old film and media graduate from the West of Scotland, with a passion for European novels, French films, silent cinema, and Brazilian music (everything from Daniela Mercury and other pop stars through to bossa nova). As a writer, she likes to have room to move around creatively, so she’s not located in one genre. She writes realism and also stories of a more fantastic nature, usually grounded to some extent in the real world. She also takes delight in writing across the sexual spectrum, and as a bisexual, considers it important to remind people that things are not always black and white, either/or, in sexuality or in gender. For a selection of Kara’s writing on the Showcase section of this site, click here

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© 2004 Laura Hird All rights reserved.