I get too emotional everytime I hear the piano..

Thank you so much for having this version of this song. ❤️❤️❤️

Acoustic bluesman Eric Bibb may be better known in Europe than he is to the typical U.S. blues fan, but the talented guitarist and songwriter has quietly forged a career of musical excellence and artistic dignity the equal of any contemporary bluesman.

Infatuated with acoustic-oriented pre-war blues, Bibb has retrofitted the string-driven Delta blues tradition for a new century, and through the years his music has largely moved away from his early reliance on traditional blues and folk tunes towards his own imaginative and intelligent original material. Performing in a vein similar to artists like Otis Taylor, Corey Harris, and Keb' Mo', Bibb's career is still enjoying an upward trajectory in the 2000s.
Childhood Full Of Music

Growing up in a household filled with music it was, perhaps, pre-destined that Eric Bibb would find a career in music himself. Bibb's father is folk artist Leon Bibb, his uncle noted composer John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. During his childhood, Bibb was exposed to the music of family friends like Odetta, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan, so it comes as no surprise that he began playing guitar at the age of seven, when he received his first acoustic guitar.

As a young teen, Bibb studied at the New York City's High School of Music and Art, learning double bass, classical guitar, and piano. At the age of 16, he played guitar in the house band on his father's TV talent show, Someone New; by 18, Bibb was playing guitar for the Negro Ensemble Company at St. Mark's Place in New York City. He would later study Psychology and Russian at Colombia University, but left school before graduating, traveling to Paris in 1970.
An American Abroad

While living in France, Bibb met guitarist Mickey Baker, who is credited with spurring Bibb's interest in blues guitar. Relocating to Sweden during the early-1970s, Bibb landed in Stockholm, where he immersed himself in pre-war blues, honing his songwriting craft, and performing with local musicians. Bibb returned to NYC in 1980 to purse a career as folk and blues artist, but would return to Sweden five years later, working as a musician, but also working as a music teacher in local schools.

Through the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, Bibb released a number of low-key albums, several in collaboration with Bert Deivert, through the independent Swedish label Opus 3 Records. In the early 1990s, Bibb formed the band Needed Time and released Spirit & The Blues, widely considered to be Bibb's debut album, in 1994. A collection of original tunes and traditional folk songs, the album earned Bibb universal acclaim. Bibb would perform at the London Blues Festival in 1996 with Keb' Mo' and Corey Harris.
A Family Affair

Bibb's album Good Stuff followed in 1997, the album released by Opus 3 in Europe and Earthbeat! Records in the United States. Bibb signed with England's Code Blue Records for Me To You, which he recorded with some of his musical heroes in Pops and Mavis Staples and folk-bluesman Taj Mahal. During the late 1990s, Bibb and his manager formed the Manhaton Records label in the UK, subsequently releasing albums like Home To Me (1999), Roadworks (2000), and Painting Signs (2001). In 2002, Bibb recorded an album of duets and solo performances with his father Leon titled A Family Affair.

Bibb has pursued a hectic schedule in the new millennium, touring the world with artists like Robert Cray, Ray Charles, John Mayall, and Robben Ford and releasing nearly an album a year during the first decade of the '00s. Bibb has received numerous W.C. Handy/Blues Music Award nominations through the years, and his music routinely appears in TV shows in both the U.K. and America.

Shine On - Eric Bibb

Beautiful Stranger

The song with the same name as the album  emulates the idea of pouring your heart into something that ultimately is redundant. The song is the lament of a guy who lavishes attention on his lover but gets nothing back from her. 

White Elephant

I bought you a big diamond ring but you don’t wear it anymore
I gave you a black party dress but you returned it to the store
Is it a sign of your guilt your  love’s begun to pale
And will this house of pleasure we built soon be up for sale, oh oh oh oh
Now you’re not even listening, you seem so far away

I call your name, still waiting for an answer
I’ve never felt so irrelevant                                            
You’re not the same, it’s the end for this romance, yeah
My love’s become a white elephant, a white elephant

You ignore me all the time when we’re out in company
I can’t get a word in edgeways cause you talk all over me
I think you wanted all the drama of some big love affair 
An illusion where we lived but there was no one ever there    
Now you’re not even listening, you seem so far away

I call your name, still waiting for an answer
I’ve never felt so irrelevant                                            
You’re not the same, it’s the end for this romance, yeah
My love’s become a white elephant, a white elephant


I get nothing 
From your lavish habits
My largesse has cost me dear               
But I’ve seen my chance 
And I’m going to grab it                             
You won’t even know I’m out of here
                       
You call my name, still waiting for my answer
You’ve never felt so irrelevant                                                      
You’re to blame, for the end of this romance, yeah
Your love’s become a white elephant, a white elephant

Copyright Alistair McIntosh – 8 October 2024


Burt Bacharach & Elvis Costello - What The World Needs Now Is Love

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La_pecheresse_infernale🔥

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