Footsteps Echo on the Stone

Grace Jones was so overwhelmingly strange and exotic that I think she ceased being characterized as human. She became kinda interstellar. She made Sade look like Annette Funicello by comparison. Way back in the ’80s, she was mildly obscure, but ubiquitous, if that’s possible. I guess her exposure reached a high water mark with Libertango (I’ve Seen This Face Before). I’ll bet it sound plenty familiar to you:

Like many songs, the vampiric movie industry used that ditty for atmospherics in several notable films. When Scorsese, who is unexcelled at picking pop music to adorn his films, needed a weird, otherworldly vibe for Griffin Dunne’s descent into the madness that is nighttime New York City in After Hours, he cued Grace up.

Speaking of vampires, I think the song is prominent in that weird David Bowie Lugosi movie, The Hunger, too. If you were into Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon, or at least their stunt doubles, rolling around in their undies on a four poster, Tony Scott had you covered. The internet informs me that it was on the Miami Vice teevee show as well. I can’t say. I never planned on living to be four thousand years old, so I never had the time to watch that show.

But hey, I’ve actually seen the actual originator of that actual song, Astor Piazzolla, perform that actual song right in front of me. In Boston, actually. It’s a humdinger.

I’ve never understood how button accordions function. I’ve played things (badly) with keys and frets and soundholes and slides, and stuff that you beat with sticks. But that squeeze box thing is a dark and bloody mystery.

[Update: Many thanks to Gerry for his ongoing, generous support of this site through the Ko-Fi button. It’s greatly appreciated]