Poetry Man

"Poetry Man" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow. It was written by Snow, produced by Dino Airali, and first appeared on her 1974 self-titled debut album.

Composition/ recording/ release

"Poetry Man" was the second song written by Phoebe Snow - (Phoebe Snow quote:)"The first one asso lame I hardly remember it".https://www.cltampa.com/news/phoebe-snow-a-movingly-candid-interview-12275596 Snow would have the basic song written in five or ten minutes, and the song in its final form finished in about an hour. Snow would recall that the "bunch of hippies" she knew through their mutual participation in talent nights at Greenwich Village venues dismissed her composition as "pedestrian", advising Snow to "stick with the eltablues covers" she typically performed. However "Poetry Man" was among the songs on the demo which Shelter Records scout Dino Airali late in 1972 advised Snow to record to submit to Shelter president Denny Cordell who on the strength of that demo signed Snow.

With Airali's encouragement Snow wrote more original material - seven of the nine songs on her debut album would be self-penned - and - after recording sessions with Snow in Los Angeles and Nashville failed to yield promising results - Airali, Snow would recall, would suggest: "Why don't we do a jazz-flavored lbum?We've tried...every other way." The final versions of Poetry Man" and the other tracks which comprised Snow's debut album were recorded at A & R Recording: Zoot Sims played the saxophone on "Poetry Man", which track was also distinguished by the percussion work of Ralph MacDonald.

Completed in December 1973, the ''Phoebe Snow'' album was released in June 1974 with "Poetry Man" given single release that December. "Poetry Man" became Snow's first charting hit, rising to #5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in April 1975 and #4 in the Canadian RPM Magazine charts.Top Singles.
RPM Magazine. April 19, 1975. The previous month, the song reached #1 on the ''Billboard'' easy listening (adult contemporary) chart, where it remained for one week. The success of "Poetry Man" helped Snow achieve a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 1975, an award that was won that year by composer Marvin Hamlisch.

Subject matter/ aftermath

Phoebe Snow would state in a 2008 interview that around the time of "Poetry Man"'s composition: "I was having a relationship with somebody. From the yrics - ''Home's that place you go each day to see your wife'' - "you can probably deduce that the guy was married. It was a bad thing to do. ndit turn dout he was not a particularly great guy"..."But I got a lovely romantic sonnet out of it."Rumors arose that Snow wrote "Poetry Man" about singer/songwriter Jackson Browne who she toured with as opening act in the spring of 1975 although the two had never met previously and "Poetry Man" was already "in the can" by December 1973. Nevertheless on the American Top 40 radio broadcast of September 13 1980, host Casey Kasem would allege that Snow herself had advised his show that Browne was her Poetry Man.However a 1989 interview posited Snow as "laugh nghysterically at the notion" of a Jackson Browne hook-up being her song's inspiration, Snow being quoted as saying: "People avethought it was about Jackson because I pened hisshows...I can't tell you who 'Poetry Man' was about, xcept thatit was nobody famous."

Snow would in later years recall that although her completed debut album would indeed be "dubbed a jazz album" with its hit single "Poetry Man" overtly "light, ethereal and jazzy", (Phoebe Snow quotes:)"I never intended to be a areerjazz artist:""Back when I was really starting to play guitar and sing, I listened to the Rolling Stones mostly, and Led Zeppelin and Cream. Sly and the Family Stone were my idols,""I was never happy performing azz music I always felt...overly concerned about being echnicallyperfect:"" ecording mysecond, third ndfourth album,...I really felt like n ersatzElla Fitzegrald...or Sarah Vaughn imitating...those azz divasinstead of being who I really am":"And now at last I’ve come to terms with...my ruemusical persona...And I’m a rock & roll singer, and I've always been one.” The last statement was made while Snow was promoting her fifth album: the 1978 release '' Against the Grain'', Snow's purported "entrance into outright rock & roll": however neither that album nor Snow's follow-up: another rock & roll foray entitled ''Rock Away'', would ultimately be satisfying to Snow, who sat out nearly the entire '80s decade as a recording artist, her seventh album: '' Something Real'', not being released until 1989.Reviewing the album ''Something Real'', '' WAPO'' music critic Joe Brown would describe the title cut as "'Poetry Man' revisited... he earliersong's ingenuously adulterous protagonist has wised up in a decade. This time around, she wants" - quoting the lyrics of "Something Real" - ''something real - something I don't have to steal.''

While doing promotion for her sixth album release ''Rock Away'' in 1981, Snow would state that going forward her live gigs would largely eschew songs from her previous five albums: (Phoebe Snow quote:)"Mostly I don't relate to those older songs any more lthoughI can't brush off ignature song'Poetry Man' of course." In a 1989 interview Snow would state: "I could erform 'Poetry Man'under anesthesia", while in 1998 she would express misgivings about the song's subject matter:

Whatever misgivings or ennui Snow might have come to experience in performing "Poetry Man", the song would continue to be cited as a highlight of her concerts: Kathy Haight of ''The Charlotte Observer'' reviewing Snow's 1986 Spirit Square gig would opine that "the soaring enditionof 'Poetry Man'...sounded every bit as fresh and full of feeling as...when nowfirst recorded it." Similarly, Jon Matsumoto of the ''Los Angeles Times'', reviewing Snow's 1998 Orange County club gig, would opine that "Snow sounded like a heavenly dream while interpreting ergorgeous ndbest known song," while '' WaPo'' critic Pamela Murray Winters after seeing Snow's 2003 Birchmere gig, praised Snow's "nuanced" performance of "Poetry Man" which "hovered between pop-song coziness and erotic danger as she sang as a teenager in thrall to an older, married man.''Washington Post'' 2 October 2003 "Phoebe Snow at the Birchmere" by Pamela Murray Winters

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

In 1997, Zap Mama, an African-Belgium based group, delivered a rendering on their album, ''Seven'', which included a dialog of sorts with Spearhead's Michael Franti playing the Poetry Man himself.

In 1999, "Poetry Man" returned to the Adult Contemporary chart in a cover by Hawaiian female vocal trio Na Leo Pilimehana, which peaked at #24.

In 2007, Queen Latifah recorded a cover version of "Poetry Man" that was included on her Grammy-nominated album '' Trav'lin' Light''.

In 2008, saxophonist Jessy J recorded an instrumental of "Poetry Man" on her album ''Tequila Moon''.

in 2014, Canadian vocalist Jaclyn Guillou recorded "Poetry Man" on her contemporary jazz album, "Winter for Beginners".

See also

* List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1975 (U.S.)

References

External links

Single release info from discogs.com
*

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1974 debut singles
Phoebe Snow songs
1974 songs
Songs about infidelity
Shelter Records singles