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Lingo: Life Legend Lost

by Jean Koning

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1.
A Singer Must Die 05:49
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Now the courtroom is quiet, but who will confess Is it true you betrayed us? The answer is "yes" Then read me the list of the crimes that are mine I will ask for the mercy that you love to decline And all the ladies go moist, and the judge has no choice A singer must die for the lie in his voice And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty You keepers of truth, you guardians of beauty Your vision is right, my vision is wrong I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song Oh, the night it is thick, my defences are hid In the clothes of a woman I would like to forgive In the rings of her silk, in the hinge of her thighs Where I have to go begging in beauty's disguise Oh goodnight, goodnight, my night after night My night after night after night after night after night after night After night after night after night I am so afraid that I listen to you Your sun glassed protectors they do that to you It's their ways to detain, their ways to disgrace Their knee in your balls and their fist in your face Yes and long live the state by whoever it's made Sir, I didn't see nothing, I was just getting home late © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
2.
American Girl 04:57
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Well she was an American girl Raised on promises She couldn't help thinkin' that there Was a little more to life Somewhere else After all it was a great big world With lots of places to run to Yeah, and if she had to die Tryin' she had one little promise She was gonna keep Oh yeah, all right Take it easy baby Make it last all night She was an American girl It was kind of cold that night She stood alone on her balcony She could the cars roll by Out on 441 Like waves crashin' on the beach And for one desperate moment there He crept back in her memory God it's so painful Something that's so close And still so far out of reach Oh yeah, all right Take it easy baby Make it last all night She was an American girl © Universal Music Publishing Group
3.
One More Try 05:25
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I've had enough of danger And people on the streets I'm looking out for angels Just trying to find some peace Now I think it's time That you let me know So if you love me Say you love me But if you don't just let me go 'Cause teacher There are things that I don't want to learn And the last one I had Made me cry So I don't want to learn to Hold you, and touch you And think that you're mine Because it ain't no joy For an uptown boy Whose teacher has told him goodbye, goodbye, goodbye When you were just a stranger And I was at your feet I didn't feel the danger Now I feel the heat That look in your eyes Telling me "no" So you think that you love me Know that you need me I wrote the song, I know it's wrong Just let me go And teacher There are things That I don't want to learn Oh the last one I had Made me cry So I don't want to learn to Hold you, and touch you And think that you're mine Because it ain't no joy For an uptown boy Whose teacher has told him goodbye, goodbye, goodbye So when you say that you need me That you'll never leave me I know you're wrong, you're not that strong Let me go And teacher There are things That I still have to learn But the one thing I have is my pride Oh so I don't want to learn to Hold you, and touch you And think that you're mine Because there ain't no joy For an uptown boy Who just isn't willing to try I'm so cold Inside Maybe just one more try © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc
4.
Midnight Rider 03:26
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Well, I've got to run to keep from hiding And I'm bound to keep on riding And I've got one more silver dollar But I'm not gonna let them catch me, no Not gonna let 'em catch the midnight rider And I don't own the clothes I'm wearing And the road goes on forever And I've got one more silver dollar But I'm not gonna let them catch me, no Not gonna let 'em catch the midnight rider And I've gone by the point of caring Some old bed I'll soon be sharing And I've got one more silver dollar But I'm not gonna let 'em catch me, no Not gonna let them catch the midnight rider No I'm not gonna let 'em catch me, no Not gonna let them catch the midnight rider No, I'm not gonna let 'em catch me, no I'm not gonna let them catch the midnight rider © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc
5.
Black Hole Sun 05:57
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In my eyes, indisposed In disguises no one knows Hides the face, lies the snake The sun in my disgrace Boiling heat, summer stench 'Neath the black the sky looks dead Call my name through the cream And I'll hear you scream again Black hole sun Won't you come And wash away the rain Black hole sun Won't you come Won't you come Won't you come Stuttering, cold and damp Steal the warm wind tired friend Times are gone for honest men And sometimes far too long for snakes In my shoes, walking sleep And my youth I pray to keep Heaven sent hell away No one sings like you anymore Black hole sun Won't you come And wash away the rain Black hole sun Won't you come Won't you come Black hole sun Won't you come And wash away the rain Black hole sun Won't you come Won't you come Black hole sun Won't you come And wash away the rain Black hole sun Won't you come Won't you come Won't you Hang my head, drown my fear Till you all just disappear Black hole sun Won't you come And wash away the rain Black hole sun Won't you come Won't you come Black hole sun Won't you come And wash away the rain Black hole sun Won't you come Won't you come Black hole sun Won't you come And wash away the rain Black hole sun Won't you come Won't you come © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management US, LLC
6.
Joan Of Arc (ft. Ralph George) 07:44
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Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc As she came riding through the dark; No moon to keep her armour bright, No man to get her through this dark and smoky night. She said, I'm tired of the war, I want the kind of work I had before, A wedding dress or something white To wear upon my swollen appetite. Well, I'm glad to hear you talk this way, You know I've watched you riding every day And something in me yearns to win Such a cold and lonesome heroine. And who are you? she sternly spoke To the one beneath the smoke. Why, I'm fire, he replied, And I love your solitude, I love your pride. Then fire, make your body cold, I'm going to give you mine to hold, Saying this she climbed inside To be his one, to be his only bride. And deep into his fiery heart He took the dust of Joan of Arc, And high above the wedding guests He hung the ashes of her wedding dress. It was deep into his fiery heart He took the dust of Joan of Arc, And then she clearly understood If he was fire, oh then she must be wood. I saw her wince and I saw her cry, I saw the glory in her eye. Myself I long for love and light, But must it come so cruel, and oh so bright? © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
7.
Delta Lady 04:02
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Woman of the country Now, I found you Longing in your soft And fertile delta And I whisper sighs To satisfy your longing For the warm and tender Shelter of my body Oh, you're mine, yes, you're mine, delta lady Your mine, be all mine Delta lady Please don't ask How many times I found you Standing wet And naked in the garden And I think of the days And the different ways I held you I held you closely to me Yes, our heart was beating When I'm home again in England And I'm thinking of you, love Because, I love you Yes, I do, I love you There are concrete Mountains in the city And pretty city women Live inside them And yet it seems The city scene is lacking I'm so glad you're waiting For me in the country Oh, you're mine, yes, you're mine, delta lady You're mine, be all mine Delta lady 'Cause you're mine, yes, you're mine, delta lady You're mine, be all mine Delta lady Oh, you're mine, yes, you're mine, delta lady You're mine, be all mine Delta lady © Reservoir Media Management Inc
8.
Friday On My Mind 05:11
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Monday morning feels so bad Everybody seems to nag me Coming Tuesday I feel better Even my old man looks good Wednesday just don't go Thursday goes too slow I've got Friday on my mind Gonna have fun in the city Be with my girl, she's so pretty She looks fine tonight She is out of sight to me Tonight I'll spend my bread, tonight I'll lose my head, tonight I've got to get to night Monday I'll have Friday on my mind Do the five day grind once more I know of nothing else that bugs me More than working for the rich man Hey! I'll change that scene one day Today I might be mad, tomorrow I'll be glad 'Cause I'll have Friday on my mind Gonna have fun in the city Be with my girl, she's so pretty She looks fine tonight. She is out of sight to me Tonight I'll spend my bread, tonight I'll lose my head, tonight I've got to get to night Monday I'll have Friday on my mind Gonna have fun in the city Be with my girl, she's so pretty She looks fine tonight. She is out of sight to me Tonight I'll spend my bread, tonight I'll lose my head, tonight I've got to get to night Monday I'll have Friday on my mind © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
9.
Heroes 05:26
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I, I wish you could swim Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim Though nothing will keep us together We can beat them, forever and ever Ah, we can be heroes, just for one day I will be king And you, you will be queen Though nothing, will drive them away We can be heroes, just for one day We can be us, just for one day I, I can remember (I remember) Standing, by the wall (by the wall) And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads) And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall) And the shame, was on the other side Oh, we can beat them, forever and ever Then we could be heroes, just for one day We can be heroes We can be heroes We can be heroes Just for one day We can be heroes We're nothing, and nothing will help us Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay But we could be safer, just for one day Oh-oh-oh-ohh, just for one day We can be heroes We can be heroes We can be heroes © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Tintoretto Music
10.
Sometimes It Snows In April 08:49
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Tracy died soon after a long fought civil war Just after I'd wiped away his last tear I guess he's better off than he was before A whole lot better off than the fools he left here I used to cry for Tracy because he was my only friend Those kind of cars don't pass u every day I used to cry for Tracy because I wanted to see him again But sometimes sometimes life ain't always the way Sometimes it snows in April Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad Sometimes I wish life was never ending And all good things, they say, never last Springtime was always my favorite time of year A time for lovers holding hands in the rain Now springtime only reminds me of Tracy's tears Always cry for love, never cry for pain He used to say so strong unafraid to die Unafraid of the death that left me hypnotized No, staring at his picture I realized No one could cry the way my Tracy cried Sometimes it snows in April Sometimes I feel so bad Sometimes, sometimes I wish that life was never ending And all good things, they say, never last I often dream of heaven and know that Tracy's there I know that he has found another friend Maybe he's found the answer to all the April snow Maybe one day I'll see my Tracy again Sometimes it snows in April Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad Sometimes I wish that life was never ending But all good things, they say, never last All good things they say, never last And love, it isn't love until it's past © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group
11.
Famous Blue Raincoat 04:44
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It's four in the morning, the end of December I'm writing you now just to see if you're better New York is cold, but I like where I'm living There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening And I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert And that you're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record Yes, and Jane came by with that lock of your hair She said that you gave it to her On the night you planned to go clear Well? Did you ever go clear? Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder You'd been to the station to meet every train, and You returned without Lili Marlene And then you treated my woman to a flake of your life And when she returned she was nobody's wife Well, I see you there with that rose in your teeth One more thin gypsy thief Well, I see Jane's awake And she sends her regards Hey! And what can I tell you my brother, my killer What can I possibly say? I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you I'm glad you stood in my way And if you ever come by here, be it for Jane or for me I want you to know your enemy is sleeping, and I want you to know his woman is free Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes I thought it was there for good so I never really tried And Jane came by with a lock of your hair She said that you gave it to her On the night you planned to go clear Sincerely, Your best friend © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

about

A few years ago, Jean Koning had a heart to heart with the director of a play he was then acting in. "That devil looked me in the eye," he recalls, "and basically said: your emotion is your strength, as it is in your music. But you will never be Sondheim. Your main source of creation is your pain. And then it seems you delve into other people’s pain to portray the most honest human-being possible." The conversation wasn’t about compliments, character or motivation. The director was being viciously fair about the person sitting in front of him." Jean has been reflecting on that moment of honesty ever since, he says…

Koning’s sixth album is an intense feast of melody, protest, tenderness and pain, set on the lyrics by prominent songwriters. It's a cover-album, but unlike any cover-album you've ever heard.

In the summer of 2016, he temporarily moved into an apartment in Berlin. The intention was to reconnect with the stories and songs of a somewhat more happier time in his career, touring and recording with the iconic and very cult avant-punk band !JP. The Berlin music scene was always a big force and inspiration in the band's lives, back then. The following winter, two seismic events knocked the plan off its axis. At first, the mental fallout from the last part he played in the theatre, which left him with a minor psychological set-back. And in January he was diagnosed with skin-cancer. These events left him depressed and basically unable to speak.

Through frequent visits from his friend Ralph George—the two were working on a new album for the roots-orientated singer-songwriter—Koning was forced to enter a different level of composing. Composing for someone else in combination with a sudden urge to be remembered. He became struck by "the bravery of a patient wanting to stay on the planet." "I couldn't die," he recalls. "The album I was creating for and with Ralph wasn't finished yet. I had to go through surgery, treatment and hope for the best—the non-metastasising kind of best—in order to finish our project." Both his partner and his long-time friend S.T. Vacirca advised him to put the feeling down in song, in any way possible, "because that is what you do."

The result is LINGO: LIFE, LEGEND, LOST, a swirling, winterish masterpiece that is part prayer, part plea. With the ghost of the original songwriters breathing in the background, this collection of cover songs feels like a spell to awaken someone who is frozen in ice.

"People who listen to music these days are trapped," Koning explains. "Trapped in this model that says that a song is only a good song when seven million people liked it on the internet. F*ck that demographic bullshit, man. The entire music business is comatose. And that's how I treated this album. I took lyrics written by others, as if they were the only vibrant memories of a comatose person. With the music that poured through my pores, I tried to recreate a memory for the persons that stand on the outside of the comatose person. Whether it is a nurse, or a loving parent, or a lover. All trying to try to understand what goes on behind those eyes. We don’t know what the comatose knows; is that person with us in the present? Does that person have long term memory? We just don’t know what is behind those eyes."

The LINGO road trip through music history—as Koning likes to see it—had come on the advice of Ralph George. However, Koning combined it with information he obtained from other frequent visitors, who kept him informed of the darker promontories of the political landscape.

He became aware that his political awareness was always very in touch with his "adventures in, and connections to the world of music." "At parties in the early nineties, I sat on Manfred Langer's lap and sang Bye Bye Blackbird for him. Something unthinkable today. I mean: face it! I was a teenager on the lap of a fifty-plus person. I can see the #metoo headlines already, can't you. But it was innocent. And the world around us didn't mind. We've changed over the course of twenty-something years. But not for the better. The human race lacks direction. We're upset about everything. Everything. We make an over-the-top issue out of almost everything and everybody want in on the conversation. Meanwhile, the real dangers continue their schemes far away from the public eye. And when you address people to it, they still think it's more important that there's too much gluten in today's bread. Get real!"

The complex influence of nowadays alt-right movements, dubious lobbyists and think tanks informs much of the tension in LINGO. "It wasn’t going to be a record of pain, blood and tears when I began," he says. "It wasn’t going to be a record of division. But the world we live in insisted that I listened. I had to watch the conflicts that were traumatizing the world and combine historical lyrics with renewed compositions to touch those raw emotions. Hopefully people will find strength and resilience within the songs once again. Like these songs gave me when I first heard them, long, long ago. I hope these versions of the songs give them the energy to survive the storms that we are currently in". The sense of semantic distortion permeates LINGO. Koning talks of the need to form a "sonic shield" in the face of (inter)national indoctrinations.

Take his rendition of American Girl, "after all it was a great, big world, with lots of places to run to." On its close backdrop of vintage electronica, this is now a song of pure angst to stay trapped in world of terror, with nowhere to run.

Hidden messages and subliminal protests lend themselves perfectly to Koning’s natural playfulness. For all its dark themes, this album is a joy to absorb, full of warmth and puzzles. The gloriously odd Midnight Rider—in Koning's hands—touches more on themes of the lives of many refugees, than the supposed one-man-on-the-run song it originally is.

Koning adds: "Midnight Rider in its original from, is the story of a man on the run—presumably from the law and on a horse—that has been recorded by numerous other artists. In three short verses, the song sums up what it must be like to be the outlaw who lives life a day at a time, moving from place to place, woman to woman, in a journey that never ends. With Midnight Rider, Allman threw some paint on a canvas and handed brushes to the listeners, inviting them to use their own colours, their own imaginations, to complete the picture. Who is this "Midnight Rider?" What or who is he running from? Does he ever get caught, or does he elude his trackers to live to a ripe old age? Where some songs might be considered incomplete if these details were missing, Midnight Rider is a well-written classic about a faceless character that invites the listener in to make his or her own conclusions."

And in the fascinating Heroes, nostalgic dancehall sounds which recall early casino lounge acts meld into a lush seventies rock setting. This version of the song is inspired by the plans to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. "I remember standing by the wall," Koning sings, "And the guards shot above our heads."

"As a songwriter its crucial to listen to everything and everyone. This is politics right now. It is seeping through the air. Families are falling apart. Much like the Berlin Wall once did to many German families. There is a reason Heroes' predecessor is Friday On My Mind. The deceptively theatrical version of the cheerful Friday On My Mind promises "Today I might be mad, tomorrow I'll be glad.""

At the centre of LINGO is this theme of division. The mythic Joan Of Arc talks about a mind divided from a soul, pleading "if he was fire, then she must be wood," in a classic laid-back version that gets you right between the ribs. Joan Of Arc also features the lush vocals of singer-songwriter Ralph George, whose own struggles with selfhood in the world have inspired them both to think about divisions within the self, as well as within society.

Black Hole Sun is another stand-out track, its dark approach recalling the powerful energy of Koning’s 2017 album From The Hermit's Bedroom. "It’s about the apocalypse, in combination with a suicide, because we cannot deal with this apocalypse. It's foreboding. You see, the meaning of the word apocalypse says it all. Apocalypse literally means "an uncovering". It is a disclosure of knowledge or revelation. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something hidden, "a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities". It stands for our concerns for parts of our world that are changing forever."

This record may not be the one that Koning set out to make, but he is certainly the only person who could have made it.

Originally released October 9, 2018

Mood: alternative covers, emotional jazzy, nu-jazz, odes, pianos, sophisti-pop, sophisticated

credits

released October 9, 2018

Produced by Jean Koning

1) Written by Leonard Cohen // Vocal, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3: Jean Koning // © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
2) Written by Tom Petty // Vocals, Yamaha Grand, Guitar Painting: Jean Koning / Bass:Tomas Adler / Drum Programming, Percussion: Paul Livesey // © Universal Music Publishing Group
3) Written by George Michael // Vocal, Bösendorfer: Jean Koning // © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc
4) Written by Gregg L. Allman and Robert Kim Payne // Vocals, Bösendorfer, Moog: Jean Koning / Drums, Drum Programming, Percussion: Paul Livesey / Bass: Tomas Adler // © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc
5) Written by Chris Cornell // Vocal, Fender Rhodes, Violin Painting, Violin: Jean Koning / Atmosphere: Paul Livesey // © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management US, LLC
6) Written by Richard Webb / David Jonathan Cohen / Caroline Norris // Bass: Tomas Adler / Percussion/drums: Paul Livesey / Vocal, Fender Rhodes: Jean Koning / Vocal: Ralph George / Orchestration by John Philip Shenale // © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
7) Written by Leon Russell // Vocals, Hammond B3: Jean Koning / Bass: Tomas Adler / Percussion/drums: Paul Livesey // © Reservoir Media Management Inc
8) Written by George Redburn Young and Harry Vanda // Vocals, Bösendorfer: Jean Koning // © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
9) Written by Brian Peter George Eno and David Bowie // Vocals, Bösendorfer, Fender Rhodes, Moog, Guitar Painting: Jean Koning / Bass: Tomas Adler / Percussion/drums: Paul Livesey // © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Tintoretto Music
10) Written by Prince Rogers Nelson, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman // Vocal, Fender Rhodes: Jean Koning // © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group
11) Written by Leonard Cohen // Vocal: Jean Koning // © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Jean Koning Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jean Koning has been a compelling force in the underground music scene since his unlikely folk&jazz debut transferring the band The Children of a Lesser God into the avant-punk extravaganza !JP in 1988. His star-studded career includes albums such as Notes from Purgatory, Man Enough to be a Woman and Wake Up In L.A.
Throughout his career, Mr. Koning has been honored with numerous awards. ... more

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