JANN ARDEN, Canada's best kept secret.
Jann Arden is one of the biggest stars in Canada, with TV specials and sold-out concert tours, but she is virtually unknown south of the border. Her first big hit, 1994's
"Insensitive," got some airplay here. But since then she has been ignored, while other members of what I refer to as The Sisterhood Of The Depressed Canadian Chanteuses--Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, Alannah Myles, Shania Twain--are well known.
This song, "Where No One Knows Me" is Jann at her most exquisite. It's got a driving rock'n'roll beat with a fist-pumping-on-the-steering-wheel chorus, and it sounds like a cheerful little song about a road trip. Until you listen to the lyrics more carefully.
"Got my suitcase, got my dog, I'm packing up my life. . . . Got my pictures, got some cash, I'm getting out of here at last. . . . I won't stop till my last drop of gas turns to vapor, gonna drive till I can't remember who I was when I left."
I'd really like to sing this gem of the "Dammit I'm leaving and I'm never looking back" genre, but I can't figure out what to do with my favorite line: "I tore the rear-view mirror down and wrapped it in my wedding gown." I'm famous as the karaoke gender-bender, I do Linda Ronstadt, Sheryl Crow, Julie London and Kelly Clarkson. My voice doesn't have enough range to cover most male singers but I can slide right under the girls by singing an octave lower.
I'll keep working on this one, I'll find a way. I won't stop till my last drop of gas turns to vapor.