Thank you DeeDee for your considerate (and hilarious) clarification. For the record, I like the song Poor Cow more than I like the person who has taken the song title as a name on this forum!
I've loved Heal You from the moment I first heard it, but I am fully aware that it could prove displeasing to other listeners. This song, as well as a few others (like Women Who Cheat On The World), suggests to me that Tanita has tried to incorporate the more mournful elements of blues singing into her style. I hear a bit of Bessie Smith and a bit of Etta James (circa Mystery Lady) in the performance, as well as a hint of funeral singing from any number of cultures.
Kate Bush fans often debate the vocal performance in the song Houdini that begins with the words, "with your spit / still on my lip ..." I recall one fan describing this performance as the "horror show" part of the album; not surprisingly, the fan responsible for this comment approached Ms. Bush as an eccentric pin-up girl, not as an artist. Personally, I think both performances are tremendous.
It is entirely possible that I am supplying Tanita's performance with attributes that Tanita herself did not intend. The drunkeness observation did not cross my mind until I read it on this forum - as it turns out, Leonard Cohen's performance of Always on his album The Future was indeed the result of being drunk - by his own admission he passed out in the booth while recording the track. So you never know.
I like the effect of hearing Tanita's particularly sweet vocal on To Drink The Rainbow immediately following Heal You; I feel it is the high point of the album.
