OLD SCHOOL #41 Mystery Women

^{Mystery is a wonderful component of any kind of storytelling. On the written page, in music, on your phone when this number you don’t recognize keeps callilng and calling. Knowing that there is a there there, you just don’t know where.} 

^{Mystery writers make great livings. Some of them outline their stories backwards, figuring out who the murderer is that is going to be revealed on the last page, then working toward the beginning of the story. Along the way every character in the book looks guilty as hell.}  

^{A little mystery just adds to the atmosphere.} 

^{Across years of popular music, you get an occasional Mystery Man. He can be the subject of lots of questions. More often than not he is a guy that doesn’t even realize there is a song about him.}

^{Still however, songs about mystery men are far outnumbered by Mystery Women. Women full of secrets. There are so many songs from the viewpoint of useless, completely befuddled hopeless guys that wail and moan about  how much they love someone about whom they know absolutely nothing..} 

^{Except that she wears a trench coat and disappears into the fog.}

^{Female artists who sing about Mystery Women are probably singing about themselves. But in the great unknown of personalities, nothing is for certain}

^{.That’s the subject today. This mystery trip features killer songs that dropped clues across time and space but left crucial details hanging on the threads of suspicion. Nothing is definite, but its a lot trying to find the truth in a house of mirrors that reflect what might have been, who might have been, and whose that lady.}

^{The Isley Brothers skip to the last page, and we are off to try to put it all together…}

^{A mere 96 years separate this story from the musical mystery. The German novella Venus in Furs, appeared in 1870. The author, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, envisioned a hero named Severin who desired his true love to dress in animal skins and beat his ass. His name was the inspiration for the term ‘masochism” that came from the 19th century sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing. You know where this is going. 1966. Unknown Lou Reed, a major player in the unknown band Velvet Underground brought the shiny shiny boots of leather. Bandmate John Cale gave it the droning sound. Andy Warhol added the banana. It’s a mystery, just request not to be hit in the face when you meet up with Venus in Furs.}

^{Who’s That Lady? THE ISLEY BROTHERS ‘73}

^{Magdelena DANNY O’KEEFE ‘73}

^{She’s  a Mystery To Me ROY ORBISON ‘88}

^{Summer Wine NANCY SINATRA & LEE HAZLEWOOD ‘67}

^{Some Velvet Morning NANCY SINATRA & LEE HAZLEWOOD ‘68}

^{Guinevere DAVID CROSBY ‘69}

^{Suzanne JUDY COLLINS ‘66}

^{Peggy Sue Got Married BUDDY HOLLY ‘59}

^{Pretty Ballerina THE LEFT BANKE ‘66}

^{See Emily Play PINK FLOYD ‘67}

^{Venus in Furs VELVET UNDERGROUND ‘67}

^{I Put a Spell on You NINA SIMONE ‘65}

^{Madame George VAN MORRISON ‘68}

^{She is Still a Mystery THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL ‘67}

Links

Mystery Tribune: 20 Must Read Mysteries from Female Authors

Wiki Female Mystery writers

Victorian/Regency Female Sleuths/Mysteries

“The past is a blast.”

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