Looking Evil In The Eye: Lucretia MacEvil

This was not a great week in our country.

How do you make sense of senseless evil? You can't, so you look it in the eye and spit at it. And you start to live again, start to feel again, start to breathe again. Good luck Boston.

It's a Saturday night and I have taken off writing for a couple of days, I'm tired. Spent the day cleaning and doing the winter clothes out, summer clothes in routine. I hate that shit. After which I went to the mall, and I never go to the mall anymore. Then I went back to the liquor store I wrote about in a post titled "In A Wine Store It's Not All Rose." I hate that damn store. So here I am, ready to nod off, but needing to write a little something.

So I did.

Over at Lance's My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog, the pick for this week's 100 Word Song Challenge is from a band I featured not too long ago, Blood, Sweat and Tears. My post featured a song called "Sometimes in Winter." with the lead vocal by Steve Katz. But BS&T had most of their hits with David Clayton Thomas as the front man, and today's pick is one of them.

The story of an evil, man-stealing, wild, wicked woman, "Lucretia MacEvil" reached the Top 30 in 1970, and it features great horns and a great arrangement,

As always, we use exactly 100 words, using the song as a prompt, to write a story, poem, grocery list, whatever inspiration you get from the song.

Here's mine:

“She’s losing blood quickly, time to decide.” 

All his mistakes raced through his mind. It was time to pay up. It wasn't supposed to be this way. There should have been time to re-negotiate the contract. Out of time and out of options.

“What’s your choice? Do you raise this child alone, or do I let your wife live? Personally, I don’t think it’s much to ask. Seeing how you've turned out, it’s not a stretch to think your baby girl would follow me anyway. This just seals the deal.”

John MacEvil spit at the demon and whispered “Save her.”

Sometimes in Winter

In the late 60's a band came onto the scene with music incorporating a little jazz, a little folk and a little rock. They had a horn section, played a variety of music and would record songs by writers such as Laura Nyro, James Taylor, the Rolling Stones and Billie Holiday.

Over the years band members would come and go, but the era where they had their greatest success was when David Clayton-Thomas was their lead singer. The band was Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Many of their songs are quite well known: "Spinning Wheel,"  "And When I Die," and "You Made Me So Very Happy," to name a few. All those songs were sung by Clayton-Thomas. But there was one song by BS&T which always stood out to me, and with seasonal storms and cold weather throughout the country, it seems like a good time to shine a little light on it.

From the Grammy winning Album of the Year, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and written and sung by Steve Katz, one of the founding members, the song is "Sometimes in Winter."

"Sometimes in Winter 

I gaze into the streets 

and walk through snow and city sleet 

behind your room 

Sometimes in Winter 

forgotten memories 

remember you behind the trees 

with leaves that cried 

By the window once I waited for you 

laughing slightly you would run 

trees alone would shield us in the meadow 

makin' love in the evening sun 

Now you're gone girl 

and the lamp posts call your name 

I can hear them 

in the spring of frozen rain

Now you're gone girl 

and the times slow down till dawn 

It's a cold room

and the walls ask where you've gone 

Sometimes in winter 

I love you when the good times 

seem like memories in the spring 

that never came 

Sometimes in winter 

I wish the empty streets 

would fill with laughter from your tears 

to ease my pain"

and a rare live performance from 1971...

The stark crispness of the vocal contrasts perfectly with the lush orchestration. Wonderful.

It's just a song to keep you warm...sometimes in winter.

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