''Bare Bones'' is the fifth studio album by American jazz singer

Madeleine Peyroux Madeleine Peyroux (born April 18, 1974) is an American jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a teenager on the streets of Paris. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs before finding mainstream success in 2004 when her album ''Carele ...

. It was released on March 10, 2009. The album received both critical and public acclaim. It received favourable reviews and the lyrics were praised. Commercially, it reached number 1 on the Jazz charts and entered on the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 71. The album debuted and peaked at number 12 on the Official UK Albums Chart. All the songs were written or co-written by Peyroux. According to her, the album is an attempt to resume her philosophy of life and she started working on it after the release of ''

Half the Perfect World ''Half the Perfect World'' is the fourth studio album by American jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux. It was released on September 12, 2006. It peaked at No. 33 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart and had sold 218,000 copies in the United States ...

''.

Song information

* The album opens with "Instead", a retro-tune with a positive message ("Instead of feeling bad/be glad/You're not on your own"), which resembled old Depression-Era songs. * The second track, the title song, supposedly inspired by a passage from a book by Buddhist nun

Pema Chödrön Pema Chödrön (པདྨ་ཆོས་སྒྲོན། ''padma chos sgron'' “lotus dharma lamp”; born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, July 14, 1936) is an American Tibetan Buddhist. She is an ordained nun, former acharya of Shambhala Buddhism an ...

, "When Things Fall Apart: Heartfelt Advice for Difficult Times",contains

Shakespearian William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

references: "Old Hamlet's done now, dead and gone, and there's no ghost walks/Poor

Yorick Yorick is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. He is the dead court jester whose skull is exhumed by the First Gravedigger in Act 5, Scene 1, of the play. The sight of Yorick's skull evokes a reminiscence by Prince Hamlet of th ...

tells ya everything he knows with no tongue to talk". * "Damn the Circumstances" is a slow-tempo song, which critics considered to be one of the "most memorable and enchanting songs of the album". * "River of Tears", written by Peyroux in collaboration with her producer Larry Klein, sings about her father who ''"could sit and drink the way a monk could pray"'', while she also seems to invite listeners to listen to some

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

. On this track, Peyroux resembles

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

. * "You Can't Do Me" was the first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

of the album, released in February 2009. Although, as of March 25, 2009, it hasn't been released in any EP or

video clip Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely to ...

. It is an up-tempo, jazz-rock song, with the recognisable help of

Walter Becker Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.Russonello, Giovanni,Listen t ...

. The song makes reference to

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National B ...

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", commonly known as "Prufrock", is the first professionally published poem by American-born British poet T. S. Eliot (1888–1965). Eliot began writing "Prufrock" in February 1910, and it was first publishe ...

. * The sixth track, "Love and Treachery", was considered by a critic as the "song

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

never wrote". * "Our Lady of Pigalle", a classic song, is the scenario of a woman being propositioned walking around the streets of Paris late at night, referencing her to being a symbol of salvation. A version in French, "Notre Dame de Pigalle", was released as a bonus track in the Japanese Edition. * In "Homeless Happiness", fans are introduced to the singer's past experiences while she went busking through Europe. It talks about the advantages of living a simple life with ''"No worries, no hurries"''. * "To Love You All Over Again" is just in the right place on the track listing, balancing the sad songs with a more cheery

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

. * "I Must Be Saved" is written solely by Peyroux. It is a love song that talks about how someone can lose everything, even the things they never thought they would lose, but they will always be saved. Peyroux dedicated this song to

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

singer

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire co ...

, her "spiritual grandmother", who died on December 2, 2008. * The album closes with "Somethin' Grand", which was written in "support of the new era with

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

Track listing

# " Instead" (

Julian Coryell Julian Coryell (born 1973) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Biography Coryell was born in Pennsylvania in 1973 to famed jazz guitarist Larry CoryellAnderman, Joan (February 20, 2004). "Look how they've grown: Two childr ...

, Madeleine Peyroux) – 5:13 # "Bare Bones" (

Larry Klein Larry Klein (born March 17, 1956) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is based in Los Angeles. He began his career as a bassist, playing with jazz artists Willie Bobo, Freddie Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Joe Henderson, Bobby ...

, Peyroux) – 3:26 # "Damn the Circumstances" (

David Batteau David Hurst Batteau (born June 25, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter. Batteau is the son of Blanca Batteau and Dr. Dwight Wayne Batteau, of Harvard University and Tufts University. He is the brother of singer-songwriter Robin Batteau. H ...

, Klein, Peyroux) – 4:37 # "River of Tears" (Klein, Peyroux) – 5:21 # " You Can't Do Me" (Becker, Klein, Peyroux) – 5:04 # "Love and Treachery" (

Joe Henry Joseph Lee Henry (born December 2, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He has released 15 studio albums and produced multiple recordings for other artists, including three Grammy Award-winning albums. Early life H ...

, Klein, Peyroux) – 4:20 # "Our Lady of Pigalle" (Batteau, Klein, Peyroux) – 5:28 # "Homeless Happiness" (Coryell, Peyroux) – 3:59 # "To Love You All Over Again" (Batteau, Peyroux) – 3:59 # "I Must Be Saved" (Peyroux) – 4:45 # "Somethin' Grand" (Klein, Sean Wayland, Peyroux) – 3:44

Personnel

– vocals, acoustic guitar *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...

– electric guitar *

Jim Beard James Arthur Beard (born August 26, 1960 in Philadelphia) is an American jazz pianist and keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer who has worked with Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Dennis Chambers a ...

– piano *

Larry Goldings Lawrence Sam “Larry” Goldings (born August 28, 1968) is an American jazz keyboardist and composer. His music has explored elements of funk, blues, and fusion. Goldings has a comedic alter ego known as Hans Groiner. Life and career Gold ...

– Hammond and

Estey organ Estey Organ Company was an organ manufacturer based in Brattleboro, Vermont. The company was founded in 1852 by Jacob Estey, who bought out another Brattleboro manufacturing business. At its peak, the company was one of the world's largest organ ...

(on all tracks exc. 6, 8, 9) *

– bass *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colai ...

– drums, percussion *

Carla Kihlstedt Carla Kihlstedt (born 1971) is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and currently working from a home studio on Cape Cod. She is a founding member of Tin Hat Trio (1997, ...

– violin (on tracks 4, 5, 7, 9, 11), trumpet and

Nyckelharpa A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to cha ...

(7) *

Luciana Souza Luciana Souza (born 12 July 1966) is a Brazilian jazz singer and composer who also works in classical and chamber music. Her song ''Muita Bobeira'' was featured as a music sample on Windows Vista. Music career Grammy winner Luciana Souza is one ...

and

Rebecca Pidgeon Rebecca Pidgeon (born October 10, 1965) is an American actress who has appeared on stage and in feature films, and a singer, songwriter and recording artist. She is married to American playwright David Mamet. Early life Pidgeon was born to Engl ...

– backing vocals (on track 5)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bare Bones (Madeleine Peyroux Album) 2009 albums Madeleine Peyroux albums Albums produced by Larry Klein Rounder Records albums