Esmirelda
Aug 23, 2007, 09:43 AM
Folk singer Judy Collins charms crowd at bookstore
Published Aug. 22, 2007
Renowned folk singer Judy Collins appeared at Borders Books and Music last Friday, singing songs and signing autographs.
Dressed in black with a white scarf, Collins, 68, opened her appearance with one of her best-loved songs, Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” The audience in Borders’ café, which spilled out into the bookshelves, sang along with Collins to that and other tunes.
Collins’ performance, which lasted about 20 minutes, was a mixture of song snippets and spoken word, as the singer reminisced about her career and talked about songs that have meant something to her. Collins has recorded the music of many artists in her career, including, Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Her latest album contains covers of Beatles songs composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. She has also recorded albums composed entirely of songs by Bob Dylan and Cohen.
Among the tunes Collins sang at her Borders appearance were the Beatles’ songs “Yesterday,” “In My Life” and “When I’m Sixty-four.” On the latter tune, Collins made the audience laugh by changing the age to 84 at one point. She also sang part of the Beatles’ song “Blackbird,” and closed the set with a group singalong of “Amazing Grace.”
CD cover
The cover of Collins' new CD, "Judy Collins Sings Lennon & McCartney"
Collins also spoke about the writing she has done on the topic of suicide. Collins’ son committed suicide in 1992, and since then Collins has penned the works “Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival and Strength” and “The Seven T’s: Finding Hope and Healing in the Wake of Tragedy.”
Following her performance, Collins signed autographs in the music section. Fans brought a variety of objects for her to sign, including record albums, CDs and songbooks.
Susan Gray and her daughter Marie, of Lakewood, had CDs for Collins to sign. Marie said she liked Collins’ music, because it can be listened to as background music but is still complex.
"It’s beautiful, but it’s also intelligent,” Marie said.
Susan praised Collins for her “very beautiful and gracious personality.”
“I’m delighted that she’s here,” she said.
Rachel Lewis, 15, of Rocky River, said she enjoys Collins’ music, because they both have soprano voices; Lewis is a member of the Singing Angels choir.
When asked about what spurred her to record a Lennon/McCartney album, Collins said, “I love those songs…and I just thought I would like to kind of get something a little lighter into my life, and have some fun with it.”
When asked whether it was difficult to whittle down a track listing from a catalog as large as Lennon and McCartney’s, Collins said, “No, no, they’re songs that I loved.”
Collins added that she did not consider songs from either musician’s solo career for the album.
“I only did the ones they wrote together,” Collins said.
Collins has been recording music since the 1960s. She has won Grammy Awards (for “Both Sides Now” and “Send in the Clowns”) and was even nominated for an Academy Award in 1975 for a short documentary. She is the subject of the famous Crosby, Stills and Nash song “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” penned by member Stephen Stills, who dated Collins in the 1960s.
Published Aug. 22, 2007
Renowned folk singer Judy Collins appeared at Borders Books and Music last Friday, singing songs and signing autographs.
Dressed in black with a white scarf, Collins, 68, opened her appearance with one of her best-loved songs, Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” The audience in Borders’ café, which spilled out into the bookshelves, sang along with Collins to that and other tunes.
Collins’ performance, which lasted about 20 minutes, was a mixture of song snippets and spoken word, as the singer reminisced about her career and talked about songs that have meant something to her. Collins has recorded the music of many artists in her career, including, Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Her latest album contains covers of Beatles songs composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. She has also recorded albums composed entirely of songs by Bob Dylan and Cohen.
Among the tunes Collins sang at her Borders appearance were the Beatles’ songs “Yesterday,” “In My Life” and “When I’m Sixty-four.” On the latter tune, Collins made the audience laugh by changing the age to 84 at one point. She also sang part of the Beatles’ song “Blackbird,” and closed the set with a group singalong of “Amazing Grace.”
CD cover
The cover of Collins' new CD, "Judy Collins Sings Lennon & McCartney"
Collins also spoke about the writing she has done on the topic of suicide. Collins’ son committed suicide in 1992, and since then Collins has penned the works “Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival and Strength” and “The Seven T’s: Finding Hope and Healing in the Wake of Tragedy.”
Following her performance, Collins signed autographs in the music section. Fans brought a variety of objects for her to sign, including record albums, CDs and songbooks.
Susan Gray and her daughter Marie, of Lakewood, had CDs for Collins to sign. Marie said she liked Collins’ music, because it can be listened to as background music but is still complex.
"It’s beautiful, but it’s also intelligent,” Marie said.
Susan praised Collins for her “very beautiful and gracious personality.”
“I’m delighted that she’s here,” she said.
Rachel Lewis, 15, of Rocky River, said she enjoys Collins’ music, because they both have soprano voices; Lewis is a member of the Singing Angels choir.
When asked about what spurred her to record a Lennon/McCartney album, Collins said, “I love those songs…and I just thought I would like to kind of get something a little lighter into my life, and have some fun with it.”
When asked whether it was difficult to whittle down a track listing from a catalog as large as Lennon and McCartney’s, Collins said, “No, no, they’re songs that I loved.”
Collins added that she did not consider songs from either musician’s solo career for the album.
“I only did the ones they wrote together,” Collins said.
Collins has been recording music since the 1960s. She has won Grammy Awards (for “Both Sides Now” and “Send in the Clowns”) and was even nominated for an Academy Award in 1975 for a short documentary. She is the subject of the famous Crosby, Stills and Nash song “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” penned by member Stephen Stills, who dated Collins in the 1960s.