Song Lyric Sunday – Famous Parents

Our friend Paula from Light Motifs II has suggested the prompt for today’s Song Lyric Sunday. It is “Singers with Famous Musician Parents”. My immediate go to is Norah Jones who came onto the scene in 2002 with her smash album ‘Come Away With Me’. Her style and beautiful voice drew in a huge fan base curious about her music and background. It turned out she was the daughter of the famous sitar player Ravi Shanker. Yes, remember him? He taught Beatles’ guitarist George Harrison how to play the sitar!

The Song

This love song is the title track to Norah Jones’ debut album, released in 2002 when she was just 22. A patient, peaceful song, it finds Jones singing about a romantic escape where the only thing that matters is that they’re together. At the time, Jones was dating her bass player, Lee Alexander.

“Come Away With Me” is one of three songs Jones wrote on the album, which was produced by the legendary Arif Mardin (Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan) and released on the jazz label Blue Note Records. Jones had final say on the tracklist and left off a number of songs she wrote herself, going with songs written by her collaborators instead. Her guitarist, Jesse Harris, has five songs on the album, including the lead single, “Don’t Know Why.”

The Come Away With Me album is a rare massive seller with no big hits. The only song to land in the Hot 100 was “Don’t Know Why,” which made #30. “Come Away with Me” was the third single, released in December 2002 after the album had been out for nine months. By this time, it has already sold millions of copies, but many were just discovering it. In February 2003, it took Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, one of five wins for Jones that night. The album ended up selling 10 million in America to go Diamond, a certification more familiar to acts like the Bee Gees and Backstreet Boys.

The music video was directed by James Frost, whose work includes Radiohead’s “House of Cards” and Coldplay’s “Yellow.” It shows Jones driving what appears to be the 1971 Cadillac DeVille that played a very important role in her life (we’re not sure if it’s the real one or a replica, but it has Texas plates). Jones’ mother bought her the oversized vehicle when they were living in Texas and Norah needed to commute for work. The car was pretty much indestructible, so it was a safe choice.When Jones was a student at the University of North Texas, she let a friend borrow the car to transport a band that was in town from New York City. This band and their crew ended up hanging out with Jones, and one of them, Jesse Harris, stayed in touch. When Jones moved to New York to pursue music, she started collaborating with Harris and one of the other guys from that trip to Texas bought the car. For Jones, the vehicle is a symbol of her Texas roots and of her life journey.

Courtesy of Songfacts