One classic LP, a charming Christmas EP, a soundtrack LP and some magnificent live performances is virtually the sum total of Mary Margaret OHara's contribution to music. And yet what a contribution it is. I first came across her as a teenager rifling through my father's singles and came across 'Body's In Trouble' from the classic debut LP, and the one on which her reputation rests, 'Miss America'. From a slow, almost narcoleptic, guitar riff, she builds a mantra of philosophical debate about the gap between the body's desire and the mind's rationality. It is the phrasing of her lyrics which makes her stand out from the crowd. Along with Van Morrison at his best, she goes beyond words into a meta language where words become almost guttural noises in their search for spiritual truth. She asks "Who do you talk to / When your body's in trouble?" repeating the word "who" over and over, searching desperately for a resolution which does not come. The music is coiled and controlled in contrast to O'Hara's wildly pleading vocals until the guitar explodes in sympathy with her pleas of "who". Once heard, it is impossible to forget and it led me to that debut LP, Miss America.
The LP starts gently with the heartbreaking 'To Cry About' which appears to be about the end of a relationship, the couple walking towards some departure point where they will separate ("You're in my heart / I'm in your hand / You drop me off / I miss you and... you / You give me something / To cry about "). And the heartbreak is that she knows this is no temporary parting but a final one: ("There will be a timed disaster / There's no you in my hereafter"). It's a sombre, grief stricken start to the LP but one which is immediately challenged by the next track 'Year In Song.' The song is raucous and O'Hara's vocals are unhinged as she sings about her craft itself: ("The year in song / The year in music / A week in song / A day in song"). In contrast to the previous song, she reiterates over and over "Joy is the aim", losing herself totally in the momentum of the music and allowing words to tumble freefall from her mouth in an almost Patti Smith stream of consciousness ("I'm damn noise and I'm sitting on it"). The song 'A New Day' combines the sorrow of the first song with the joy of the second in the realisation that "When your heart is sick with wonder / At a long and lonely way / Walk in brightness / Cos it's a new day."
And it is that dichotomy, that narrow divide, between joy and sorrow that informs the whole LP. In 'When You Know Why You're Happy', "There is but one love / But one love won't do / All in good time / Your world goes to smash too." For every 'Help Me Lift You Up' or 'You Will Be Loved Again' ("Sometime you will / Feel love so deep / And you'll find someone / Not lost in sleep"), there is a 'Not Be Alright' ("Somewhere it's a sorry sorry day / And it won't come back / And it won't stay away"). And it is the dichotomy of the lyrics that informs the music, ranging from country to jazz to folk to rock but held together by the extraordinary vocal presence of O'Hara who loses herself in the music in a manner befitting Van Morrison or Patti Smith.
If you do not know Mary Margaret, 'Miss America' is the place to start. Once you have immersed yourself in it, you will want to hunt down any other recording you can find. The Christmas EP is worth having with three cover versions and one original, much in the style of Miss America and recorded just after. However, a decade and a half would elapse before the soundtrack to 'Apartment Hunting' appeared and although she composes all the music, her vocals only grace some of it. She has guested on others' records, probably most notably on The Smiths' 'Shakespeare's Sister' where her backing vocals are all but inaudible. So it is a frustrating search when you know that 'Miss America' should have been the prelude to a stellar career but instead the star appears to have burnt brightly and extinguished itself in the effort.
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