Anchorage – Written by Michelle Shocked
Guest post by Michael J Roberts,
Author of “33 Great Songs 33 Great Songwriters”
Anchorage: Written by Michelle Shocked
This is an impossibly gorgeous song, instantly recalling a Dylan classic with its Positively 4th Street sound palette and its masterful level of storytelling. Michelle Shocked (Karen Johnson) was a misfit, activist folk singer 25 years after that sobriquet went out of vogue. Nonetheless a mainstream label came knocking in the late 1980’s and she signed up, albeit with creative control. She put into service a picture of her arrest during a protest in San Francisco, using it as the cover of her Short, Sharp, Shocked album and received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album for her troubles (losing to Tracy Chapman).
…..The music is a simple and mesmerising use of a 4 chord turnaround in G. Michelle employs a 1 to 5 to 4 to 5 (G D/F# C D) pattern that uses a bass third note (F#) on the second chord in the sequence. The middle section introduces a minor second (Am) to break the spell, but the backing is so subtly realised the pattern never outstays its welcome.
This is an excerpt from my 33 Great Songs 33 Great Songwriters book available everywhere eBooks are sold.
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Michelle Shocked is one of 33 Great Songwriters featured in Vol 1.
Enjoy!
Michael
