Warm Kind of Emptiness
This Masquerade - Leon Russell (Blast from the Past Sunday)
Please do not get spooked off from the cover. Though you certainly wouldn’t want to face the Leon Russell of the Carney photoshoot in a dark alley (or a well-lit alley, to be honest), the music he creates is absolutely terrific. However, with all of his many credits, I think the best performance of his is no doubt his version of “This Masquerade”.
Funny to call it “his version”, since he was the one who wrote it. But the George Benson version is much more popular, and there’s also a pretty well-known Carpenters spin on it as well. I can still remember the day I heard it for the first time, with my Dad queueing it up on a weekend morning. The other album he was really digging at the time was Buddy Miles’ Them Changes, and so those will always be intertwined for me, as seemingly opposite as they are. “This Masquerade” is the type of song that really makes you stop and think, the type that commands your attention from beginning to end. I have no hesitation in calling it a masterpiece, if that helps you catch my drift. It has this weird way of making you feel both hopeless and hopeful at the same time, providing a warm kind of emptiness in the gentle acoustic verses and questioning lyrics.
“This Masquerade” is divided into two sections for me, with the intro seeming very separated from the main portion of the track. Its quite an abrupt switch too, with the melancholy guitar of the intro just ending with a strum that goes straight into the verse. There’s a classic black and white to color moment there too — the intro sounds far away and dreamlike, whereas the main part is closer and more complete, really surrounding in all its depth. I always thought it was interesting how low-key this song sounds, what with the truly devastating matters that it deals with lyrically. Russell’s voice in particular is relaxed and casual, telling it like it is despite it all. He’s certainly not the most vocally skilled person in the world, but I think that fits just perfectly with this song, giving it a really vulnerable feel that contributes to the way it sort of weighs you down after you hear it for the first time.
I can remember a few summers ago, when I was at my first adventure away from home, all the way in New York City. I was sort of nervous and slightly homesick when we went on this trip to walk around Central Park. It was a nice day and lots of people were outside, but I still couldn’t exactly shake the weird feeling I had. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I heard a saxophone playing a familiar refrain, none other than “This Masquerade”. It felt like a divine moment, like a sort of message that everything was going to be okay. Ever since then, this devastating song has always strangely cheered me up, held my hand and been there for me anytime I need it. Now THAT’S the power of music!
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