I try not to listen too much to
anybody else’s version of the
song. Of course, I will listen to
the Dylan version of the song
just get what the melody is, etc.
But then I try to just look at the
words on the page and think
about them as if I’m an actor
saying lines, in a way, and try to
inhabit that song and inhabit
that character. Sometimes, the
character is sort of a creature of
my imagination, and sometimes
it’s me just wanting to say those
words and wanting to be the one
to give a voice to that poetry.
And as far as the arrangements
are concerned, a lot of it is trial
and error. We will sit down in our
rehearsal process — myself and
Jack and Keith — and somebody
will throw out an idea and we’ll
give it a try. We’ll move around
tempos, and we’ll move around
keys, and we’ll look at the time
signatures, and a lot of other
different things, and we’ll try to
come up with something where
the song blossoms — that’s what
we’re looking for.
Watch Joan Osborne perform “Masters of War”
NJ STAGE 2017 - Issue 40
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