My introduction to this week's tune was on a promotional compilation album (entitled, interestingly enough, Spite Girls: Hits Post Modern Syndrome) I took home just shortly before my time with Camelot Music came to a close. In looking over the album's song selection, I didn't see one song other than our song of the week that I recognized. Don't know if that's a reflection of my memory or the rest of the songs being shit, but I have to admit that one killer tune on a free album is pretty much the cat's meow....
Abra Moore was born in San Diego in 1969, and eventually her family migrated to Hawaii (there's some great weather to spend the bulk of your life in). At the age of sixteen she joined the band Poi Dog Pondering (now there's a great band name), and in 1986 the band started on a yearlong busking tour across North America (tres cool) before settling in Austin, Texas in 1987. At that point, Moore decided to embark upon a solo career, with the highlight of being nominated for a Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy (for this week's tune, no less) in 1998. She's also done some acting. For her career, Moore has released five studio albums, an EP, and three singles. While her Wikipedia entry says she's still active, she hasn't released a new album since 2007, and the entry had no mention of continued touring.
Fun Fact: Moore's father named her for Abra Bacon, a character in John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Must have been lots of fun trying to explain her name to the kids at school....
"Four Leaf Clover" was the first single released from Moore's 1997 album, the rather weirdly entitled Strangest Places. The single would reach #63 (with a kind of bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album did not chart, though it did reach #24 on the Heatseekers chart, which is kind of like charting without actually charting (and still worlds better than any album I ever released, of which there have been zero).
Fans of Friday Night Jukebox (all three of you) will take one listen to "Four Leaf Clover" and think to themselves, "Yup, that's an emaycee fave tune." It has a lilting female vocal, it's catchy as all hell, has an oft repeated chorus that's to die for, and is one pop tune extraordinaire. And just to keep it interesting, Moore throws in numerous evocative "yeah's" and "uh-huh's" for those of us who suck at remembering lyrics. That's not to mention the song's theme, which is, more or less, taking a chance on love. If ever there was a kismet moment (finding a great female singer song on a promo album) for me musically, this one was it. An utter delight.
Lyric Sheet: "See, I've been thinking it over/It's all just a little too much/You see I've got a four leaf clover/It's gotta bring a little luck..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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