Friday May 14, 2021 “Avenging Annie” Andy Pratt

This song sounds like a weird marriage between Billy Joel and the Scissor Sisters and I am going to call it a frivolous Friday tune.

You may not know Andy Pratt who is a quirky, idiosyncratic, singer songwriter and had an almost hit with today’s kind of story song “Avenging Annie”. Give him a listen and then pass judgement. He is a member of the very affluent family that founded the Pratt Institute although Andy went to Harvard. 

 A multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, bass guitar, piano, accordion, sitar, tabla and clavinet Pratt sings “Avenging Annie” mostly in a falsetto voice and it is a tale of a mythical heroine told from the woman's point of view. The fast piano technique is unique and when the single was released it garnered wide critical acclaim but only moderate commercial success.

 Following “Avenging Annie” Pratt’s next album/CD was Resolution '' received rave reviews and charted reasonably well, but it also was no runaway commercial success.  He then converted to Christianity and most of his recent music is now Christian themed.

 Stay safe and well...and there were times when Elaine and I would go to a movie that I had chosen and when we were leaving I would ask what she thought of it. Being too polite to say that it might have sucked, she would say “It was interesting.”  Andy Pratt may be “interesting” for you.

They ran through hills and forest

As two under a spell

He was a city boy Floyd the outlaw

And she thought she knew him well.

 Long after that great summer

When she first came into her fame

And the avenger from Oklahoma

Was added to her name

The avenger she became.

 Well they call her avenging Annie

The avenger of womanhood

She spends her whole life telling lies

These on a mess and over good

She'll take all these spoilt young hippies

Running around playing games

They're surrounding your bed, she'll blow your head

She'll put you through a change.

 What you've done to others

She'll do unto you.

 Then she met her sensitive outlaw

He was the best thing she ever did seen

She was to be his wife for the rest of her life,

But she was so blind she could never had seen.

No!

 So she joined up with her outlaw

And headed for California.

 He treated her worse than she'd ever imagined

He didn't say he didn't want her around

He kept it up so long, she couldn't be strong

He run her right into the ground.

 After five long years,

He picked her up and slapped her down.

 Then she told her friends about him

They all were on her side

But she could see through the haze he looked so pale

She put her head right down and she cried.

 For her poor lover

She cried like a mother for her poor lover.

 And now she lives on a mountain top

And she's almost thirty-five

And she's found her peace and found her release

Happy just to be alive.

 And she might go back to her Floyd

If she thinks it's the thing to do

He gave up murder and theft after she left

And you know she still loves him to

Just like a worn out shoe

Just like a worn out shoe

Just like a worn out shoe

Just like a worn out shoe

Just like a worn out shoe

Just like a worn out shoe

Just like a worn out shoe

 Well they call her avenging Annie

The avenger of womanhood

She spends her whole life telling lies

Leads them on a mess and over good.