Sheryl Crow: “Strong Enough” (A&M)

Hmm, is the new U.S. isolationism likely to be reflected in a trend to Americana and all things folky-rocky? Once upon a time, an A&M songwriter like Sheryl Crow could expect her songs to be doused in glistening keyboards but instead she’s hiking her way down the open road with a recustomized banjo on her back.

What is this, the new Beats? Perhaps but always recall that Kerouac and Ginsberg didn’t choose the word with slackers in mind but from the Latin for “blessed”. Crow may be searching for a strong man but in the last line, she pleads “lie to me but please don’t leave”. Marlene Dietrich was a woman of similar contradictions, wanting a weak man who’d dominate her.