The Blackberry Sessions: Natalie Merchant

this voice....

I met Natalie Merchant when as teens we both worked in a health food store in New York. We hit it off right from the start and had heady summer that we spent every day together, I told her if we weren’t in Heaven we could see it.
Finally summer ended and I was set to go to school in Cambridge, I begged her to come with me but she had just started singing in the band Still Life and she begged me to stay
I didn’t.
We kept in touch over the years as she hit it big, she got married and so did I. I had a career I loved and she was…Natalie Merchant !
Finally a few years ago I got a call from her, she was doing a show in my town and wanted to know if I wanted to get together for dinner? Of course
We met at this little restaurant that I knew had a good vegan menu as I knew she had become a vegan. When she came in I swear to god she was lit in a beam of light from heaven ( she later told me it was just a street light )
At first it was kind of awkward but soon it was just like the old days with us laughing and her singing softly…I told her if this wasn’t heaven we could see it from here…she winked and laughed.
Finally the restaurant was closing and we had to leave,I walked her to her car with us dancing along the sidewalk We get there and she kisses me good night and asked me if I ever think about her much
I told her “ occasionally “ and we laughed she kissed me again and told me she still “ occasionally “ thinks of me and how things might have been
I told her she has never been out of my thoughts

Does anyone lnow how to find out who played the chello on the Ophilia reprise??

Maybe the most beautiful song of this century. Still trembling my soul, after all these years... Thank you dear Natalie, forevermore...

So spare and simple. Just Natalie s voice and a do bro. So good.

This is such an amazing song and a totally stunning performance. What a great artist!

😊😊😊😊😊

❤

Natalie performs like her life depends on it

Oh my! What a Goddess! Beautiful voice and also such a beautiful woman! 😍

She flew under my radar for years. One day I was sharing some Tom Waits and Van Morrison with a friend and she asked me what I thought of Natalie Merchant. Told her that I'd never heard of her. She handled me copies of Tiger Lilly and Carnival and I've loved Natalie from a distance ever since. Her dark eyes truly seem to be windows to a special soul and her voice has an intimate quality like the hearth behind her in this video. If I could, I would spend an entire winter snowed in with her in front of that fire with her eyes and her voice and freshly falling snow silently gathering on Ponderosa pines through a window in time...

Natalie is magnificent. I aspire to play the guitar like this guitarist someday, wow!

No other musician can compare.
Ms. Merchant is light years ahead of the rest. Scratch that. There really is no other. My life consist of keeping my family happy , work and spending an evening with Natalie Merchant every chance I get. I simply cannot listen to guardian angel without balling Hope she sings it 6-27-24 Like always , the wife & I will be front center. It’s what we live for.

How many female singers these days can bring this soulful sound?

Bellissima

Os movimentos, a melodia, o timbre do violão, a maneira como olha o colega e, sobretudo, a bela voz sincera. Agradecimentos aqui do Brasil.

Your voice is wonderful like the first time I heard it wonderful 😊

Love your music Natalie, 4ever ❤ 🌍 ❤ ✌️

I think her voice is more powerful and her words clearer now than when she was young.

what a treasure. what a gift.

I love you Natlie. Keep on bringing us your beauty and grace and talent!

You get lost in the song ,so close your eyes and when the song is over open your eyes,SLOw

How can you not love here she is into me my heart LY

Oh my, one of my favorite songs. Motherland, what a word that strikes home. Now do we relate to the Russian version? Russia has a vast history. I read a lot when I was a kid. Ignore the Russia connection; I believe Natilie said once, she'd rather dig a ditch than write lyrics for her music. But some good stories.
Aside from this gibberish, I signed up for CD's from Columbia records and got a recommendation for her music. I will go to my grave a fan of hers.
I used to pronounce it Merhannnt, because it sounded French. No need for that.

Unbelievable voice I think her music and her voice have improved with age. 😊

Stunning ❤

Hello All...


Just got back from the store...hell, i slept most of the day away but now im waiting on dinner to cook and its already 10pm.  Taking my car to Kia tomorrow, it keeps "dragging" back like somebodys holding it back...what, maybe the fuel line...it did it everytime i went to Walgreens to pick up my prescriptions, but its doing it more frequent now...dunno...


Got the house pretty well cleaned, garbage out, dishes done, swept, did laundry, shopping done...guess im set for a few days anyway. Havent been on Twitter much actually...ive been watching the news overseas...boy, those places are a mess, mostly natural disasters. Flooding, drought, earthquakes, ect... Seems like they just keep coming. Spain has a washout too! Flooding somewhere in their country too. Hell, rick just came back from there but not too sure about where he went. Said he went and visited the great grandpas graves, for some reason. Something to do probably. He knows more about old relatives than i do. He once made a geneology chart he showed mom...wonder what he did with that thing? 🤔


Been getting pains in MY bladder now..grrrr im sure its nothing but i feel pressure there every once in awhile...no chances im gonna end up like dad either...ohhhh noooo. One of the neighbors sister died the other day...he came over here the other night acting wierd, his family was looking for him to go to the funeral but somehow he got up to the psych ward floor at our hospital...his family got frantic they couldnt find him, and he missed the funeral too. Guess hes still there. Bought some new dishes, bowls and what turned out to be salad plates...theyre nice as hell too but was hoping to change my 8.5 plates, i had to keep those...i gave the other ones to odessa, across the street, hell ive had those things about 10 years now, is why i went and bought new ones. Started to watch Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise

..that bombed so i watched one with Nicholas Cage...it bombed too. I just turned in...


Well, ill close this for now...gotta head to bed soon and be at kia tomorrow....


Night

Mark

Love her guitarist!!

Beautiful Natalie ❤and beautiful guitar and playing❤

❤❤❤

Great voice, intelligent woman, beautiful Blackberry setting. Perfection.

Come on. Seriously, is there anyone in the world that has a more beautiful, mesmerizing singing voice than this woman? You know, the kind of voice that almost forces you to close your eyes while you get goosebumps and experience something resembling a religious experience?! On top of that she's brilliant, compassionate, resilient, independent and beautiful. What a remarkable human being.

Just saw her in Milwaukee last weekend. It was an amazing experience, seeing her 22 years after the first time I did, and getting to take my kids age 13 and 16 this time. Just an absolutely immersive experience in a beautiful theater about 14 rows back.

Is that Eric playing guitar?

I love this song. You sound magnificant, Natalie! 😇🥰

she continues to be amazing. she has never changed in voice and mannerisms.

😍😍😍😍😍NATI ❤

😥

Seeing her in September! I can't wait!!

I haven't read any compliment to the brilliantly guitar playing where her soul and voice shines!

Natalie❤

at 55years old...I have traveled the Earth. I have have headlined concerts, I have led men into combat, leaving the jungle with less than I came with, I have fathered a mountain of a man, I have loved unrequited and been given love without measure, I have won the day at times and there have been nights i owned nothing but my soul... I wept at my mother's grave recently. Save only hers, I could live all my days knowing only one other voice and know I have lived fully. Ms Merchant, tu es belle.

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Thank you!

💜💜💜

Wonderful piece of work.

Thank You!

She inspires with her Authenticity, her innate sense of self and place.

Wow she's awesome

Beautiful 😊