LA Playlist: “IF YOU SHOULD EVER LEAVE ME”

“If You Should Ever Leave Me” by Julie Driscoll

Julie Driscoll came to epitomize the psychadelic 60′s era of British music.  Everything she sings sounds like it belongs on the Austin Powers soundtrack.  She’s also known primarily for covers, such as “Wheel’s on Fire” and “Season of the Witch.”

As well as today’s item “If You Should Ever Leave Me.”  When I hear this song, with its dippy vocals and repeating bars, it makes me think of spinning around and around in a park when I was a kid.  I made myself so dizzy, I fell over into a pile of leaves.

An appropriate image, I feel, considering the song is about overwhelming yourself with paranoiac, misplaced fears about someone you’re into.

Julie’s voice is so interesting.  She’s not a great singer.  Which can usually be said for some of my favorite vocal artists, like Tom Waits and Jimmy Scott.  Julie puts the whammy on her voice during the end, particularly when she says “heartache.”  It’s a voice that isn’t impeccable, it’s warbly, drowned in tears, deeply cut emotionally.

Ella Fitzgerald was smooth when she sang.  Ella was a songbird, a technically precise instrument.  Julie’s more like Billie Holiday.  You can hear the shit in her voice and know she means business.