Though I've never been to Mendocino, or even that far up the California coast, I'm weirdly moved by these two songs and the way Mendocino stands in for home here. I just read that Mendocino, like many towns along the northern California coast, was inhabited by settlers from New England. Doesn't this photo look a little like Provincetown or Gloucester? In that way, the place itself might have been built as a tribute to--and bulwark against--the life left behind. No wonder the name itself serves as such a ripe metaphor. And is there a lovelier set of syllables?
To Mendocino - Essra Mohawk
Talk To Me Of Mendocino - Kate & Anna McGarrigle
4 comments:
Thanks Paul. Here's a nice live version of "Talk to Me of Mendocino" with the Wainwright siblings adding harmony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqGdi-6NFtg&feature=related
I love how the song spans the continent, with that layover in South Bend, that rise over the Rockies, the Pacific sunset and redwood sunrise. Then we discover, at the end, that the singer who's already bid farewell to New York hasn't gone anywhere yet, and from the yearning sound of all, maybe never will.
Thanks for the link, John. I hadn't heard that version. And it's always great to hear Rufus.
That evocation of space--point to point to point--makes the pang of absence and longing so real. This song always manages to break my heart.
Since listening to these two songs, I've been digging up other Mendocino-related songs, including the one by the Sir Douglas Quintet. I'm probably driving Mark a little nuts. He thinks that "Mendocino" scans the same as "Jersey City." You can imagine the parodies.
I was meditating this evening, and in my elevated state I remembered a Mendocino mention in this doggerel by Frank Zappa: "Camarillo Brillo":
She had that Camarillo brillo
Flamin out along her head
I mean her Mendocino bean-o
By where some bugs had made it red
And from there it's a downhill climax to this:
She stripped away her ranchid poncho
And laid out naked by the door
We did it till we were un-concho
And it was useless any more
Zappa's heroine could surely have some Jersey CIty qualities to go along with her Mendocino cherry but no need to take that PATH right now.
(By the way, in defense of Jersey CIty I can think of one thing it's got going for it: House of Beauty)
Trivia Paul: The outdoor scenes (except the harbor scenes) for the 1966 Film, "The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming" starring Carl Reiner, Alan Arkin and Eva Marie Saint were filmed in Mendocino. Why? The film was to take place on an island off the New England coast. Why schlep all the way from Hollywood to New England when you have a New England looking town just hours up your own coast!
Regards - Doc Milnamo
(Jim M from Bret Harte)
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