Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis

Roots music always sounds a little funny when it comes from bands outside the U.S. This must be how celebrities feel whenever an impressionist imitates them to their face. ‘Is that really how I sound?’ ‘Do I always do that when I talk?’ With their self-titled CD, Londoners Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis – three teenage siblings, no less – have taken American music and filtered it through the minds and voices of British youth.

The problem with this contemporary interpretation of pioneering sounds is that it’s just too darn polite. I’ll probably rue the day I ever called something “too polite,” especially in a day and age when a politician has the gall to call his president a liar – right there in public. But in rock & roll, as with most contact sports, one is expected to behave a little more aggressively than in civil society. When these kids cover “I Got My Mojo Working”, it just doesn’t work for me. It’s like when the latest pop teen queen sings about the trials and tribulations of love. She doesn’t really know what she’s singing about. She’s still a kid!

There’s a memorable scene in Walk the Line where Jerry Lee Lewis’ character confesses during a grueling road trip that all of these pioneering rockers were going straight to hell for what they were playing. Now, from a theological perspective, Lewis’ statement wasn’t exactly true: Those that live the sinful lifestyle often sung about in rock & roll songs may well be on that highway to hell, as AC/DC so poetically put it. But merely singing rock music doesn’t necessarily earn you a one way trip to the Dark Kingdom. However, if there isn’t a little danger expressed in your rock & roll, you’re not doing it correctly. Heck, a lot of what passes for Christian heavy metal scares me, quite honestly. Therefore, when there isn’t a little of Jerry Lee Lewis’ or Little Richard’s reckless spirit running through performances of early rock-inspired sounds, I feel a little cheated. It’s as though these three youngsters said to themselves, ‘I say, wouldn’t it be jolly to sing a little rock & roll?’ They should have said, ‘Let’s rock!’ instead.

If you haven’t heard much original rock & roll, these songs may give you some slight pleasure. But for those of us that comprehend why early rock & roll was so frightening to middle class America in the ‘50s, these recordings come off as poor imitations of those first templates. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones heard a lot of the same recordings that are now inspiring Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis, and they took what they heard to a whole new level. (And Paul McCartney did a really authentic Little Richard impersonation, before he started creating original music of his own, by the way). Maybe Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis just need a little time. A music business friend once verbally derided the great band, The Prayer Chain, back during their early days, saying they hadn’t sinned enough yet to create meaningful Christian alternative rock. (Whether it was due to sin or not, The Prayer Chain went on to create quite a legacy for themselves). This is not to say that Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis need to paint the town red a few times before their music becomes authentic. But perhaps they just need to live a little.

Tagged as: Kitty Daisy and Lewis

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