written by k.d. lang and Ben Mink

produced by Greg Penny, Ben Mink and k.d. lang

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In the case of k.d., first of all, we’ll format her full name with normal

proper-noun capital letters (just as I would do with poet Edward

Estlin Cummings). Ergo, the Great White North’s Kathryn Dawn

Lang was born in Edmonton, Alberta in fall 1961. When I was less

familiar with her—and in fact had only the Ingénue album with this song on it—I thought of her as a more or less contemporary pop artist. I was soon to learn upon collecting and listening to more of her music—especially the early stuff—just how much country material she recorded. See her ’80s albums for instance (1984’s A Truly Western Experience, ’87’s Angel With A Lariat—both with The Reclines—and ’88’s Shadowland). Her sophomore solo record Ingénue, from early ’92, really launched her career by spawning this album-concluding pop smash, “Constant Craving.” Coinciding with Miss Lang’s emergence from the proverbial closet, Ingénue came directly after one of Kathryn Dawn’s very first acting experiences, the foreign drama Salmonberries, for which she recorded the non-charting but delightfully chilling single “Barefoot.” While waiting for her next album, which would be All You Can Eat in 1995, fans were able to enjoy more of her work on the soundtrack to Gus Van Sant’s film Even Cowgirls Get The Blues. As captivating as I found All You Can Eat, equally intense was her ’97 concept album Drag, devoted to the practice of cigarette smoking. (It almost makes you want to see your doctor for traces of lung cancer just listening to it.) Though her work was always semi-sporadic, she only released a few more albums throughout the 20-00s and ’10s, but also put some more acting roles (mostly as herself) on her résumé. And yet, I still can’t help but feel charmed and amused by her appearance in the Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special back in 1988, shimmying about and crooning a wonderfully quirky rendition of “Jingle Bell Rock.”

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The black and white (“Constant Craving”) music video skips the first couple of bars and launches right into the accordion-peppered intro.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version

music video

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k.d.’S OFFICIAL WEBSITE