The Questions Live

OKEH/SONY | 2018 | 2019

With the release of his critically acclaimed album The Questions earlier this year, Kurt Elling responded to our tumultuous times with a wide-ranging set of music that explored some of humanity’s most timely and timeless struggles. Drawing upon material from jazz standards and American Songbook favorites to contemporary classics by influential songwriters like Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, Elling meditated on the political and the existential, the spiritual and the global.

Track Listing

  • ||||||Did you call her today?
    Did you call her today?
    Did you make time to say . . .
    that you need her today?
    Most girls rely on a message . . .
    some text or tweet.
    One call can give your expressage . . .
    something much more sweet.
    So did you call her today?
    You should call her today.
    From a stop on the way . . .
    at the club or cafe.
    Every day you’re away . . .
    make the time just to say . . .
    that your baby’s your bae.
    Did you call her today?

    I dig that touring life now it’s a gasser
    It’s just what I asked fer!
    Blowing hosannas on the stand
    with cats who can dazzle on the stand / is unsurpassed / sir
    You get out and shake that moneymaker night and day
    You circle the world by tipping tempos & sail away
    with every horn that’s looking for something
    some unspeakable signature figure that signals a swinger

    Big math stuff ain’t no thing for cats who swing
    I like my dirty / greasy / no-fool soul food / from the old school
    where vibe is the rule
    vibe that’s from the sweet-hot street
    I like feeling that beat / & tapping my feet / from my seat
    to Hi-Fi vinyl on the sweet repeat
    Oh wax spinnin’

    But none of that’s winnin’ if you’ve got no baby
    a’waiting for you when you tumble to home
    You turn the key to lonely echoes of empty
    A man needs a family for his house a home to be

    So take a tip from one who sees / the short & quick
    the guarantee of what’s happy
    Without love you’ll sink / like a rock gone inky in the drink / boy

    One love
    One real love will see you through when time & tide
    gets to busy beating you black and blue
    You lose that blue hue with one true beautiful baby

    So make that call without no more delay.
    And tell that pretty baby you will sway / heaven and earth
    just to keep her your queen / and to stay
    Man / promise her the milky way
    if it means that she will keep time with you one more day

    *Instrumental*

    Did you call her today
    You should call her today
    From a stop on the way
    At club or cafe
    Every day you’re away
    Make the time just to say
    That your baby’s your bae
    Did you call her today?
    Boy you should call her today||Afloat and all at sea / the stars align in threes
    They’re so fine and free / in blue and in green
    Like leaves on endless trees

    Come climb the sky with me / come hear and come to see
    Melody in perfect symmetry / in love / in light / in key

    ______________________

    I went out at night alone;
    The young blood flowing beyond the sea
    Seemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings—
    I bore my sorrow heavily.

    But when I lifted up my head
    From shadows shaken on the snow,
    I saw Orion in the east
    Burn steadily as long ago.

    From windows in my father’s house,
    Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,
    I watched Orion as a boy
    Above another city’s lights.

    Years [a]go, dreams [a]go, and youth goes too,
    The world’s heart breaks beneath its wars,
    All things are changed, save in the east
    The faithful beauty of the stars.

  • Intro: A Happy Thought
  • A Happy Thought (Live)
  • Intro: I Have Dreamed
  • I Have Dreamed (Live)
  • Intro: Every Day You're Away
  • Did you call her today?
    Did you call her today?
    Did you make time to say . . .
    that you need her today?
    Most girls rely on a message . . .
    some text or tweet.
    One call can give your expressage . . .
    something much more sweet.
    So did you call her today?
    You should call her today.
    From a stop on the way . . .
    at the club or cafe.
    Every day you’re away . . .
    make the time just to say . . .
    that your baby’s your bae.
    Did you call her today?

    I dig that touring life now it’s a gasser
    It’s just what I asked fer!
    Blowing hosannas on the stand
    with cats who can dazzle on the stand / is unsurpassed / sir
    You get out and shake that moneymaker night and day
    You circle the world by tipping tempos & sail away
    with every horn that’s looking for something
    some unspeakable signature figure that signals a swinger

    Big math stuff ain’t no thing for cats who swing
    I like my dirty / greasy / no-fool soul food / from the old school
    where vibe is the rule
    vibe that’s from the sweet-hot street
    I like feeling that beat / & tapping my feet / from my seat
    to Hi-Fi vinyl on the sweet repeat
    Oh wax spinnin’

    But none of that’s winnin’ if you’ve got no baby
    a’waiting for you when you tumble to home
    You turn the key to lonely echoes of empty
    A man needs a family for his house a home to be

    So take a tip from one who sees / the short & quick
    the guarantee of what’s happy
    Without love you’ll sink / like a rock gone inky in the drink / boy

    One love
    One real love will see you through when time & tide
    gets to busy beating you black and blue
    You lose that blue hue with one true beautiful baby

    So make that call without no more delay.
    And tell that pretty baby you will sway / heaven and earth
    just to keep her your queen / and to stay
    Man / promise her the milky way
    if it means that she will keep time with you one more day

    *Instrumental*

    Did you call her today
    You should call her today
    From a stop on the way
    At club or cafe
    Every day you’re away
    Make the time just to say
    That your baby’s your bae
    Did you call her today?
    Boy you should call her today

  • Intro: Endless Lawns
  • Afloat and all at sea / the stars align in threes
    They’re so fine and free / in blue and in green
    Like leaves on endless trees

    Come climb the sky with me / come hear and come to see
    Melody in perfect symmetry / in love / in light / in key

    ______________________

    I went out at night alone;
    The young blood flowing beyond the sea
    Seemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings—
    I bore my sorrow heavily.

    But when I lifted up my head
    From shadows shaken on the snow,
    I saw Orion in the east
    Burn steadily as long ago.

    From windows in my father’s house,
    Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,
    I watched Orion as a boy
    Above another city’s lights.

    Years [a]go, dreams [a]go, and youth goes too,
    The world’s heart breaks beneath its wars,
    All things are changed, save in the east
    The faithful beauty of the stars.

Personnel

Kurt Elling: Voice
Jim Watson: Piano, Organ
Clark Sommers: Bass
Adonis Rose: Drums
John McLean: Guitar
Producers: Kurt Elling and Bryan Farina
Live Sound/Recording Engineer: Tim Bray
Mixing and Mastering: Chris Allen
Cover Photo: Robert Ramirez
Cover Design: Terri Morris – Mollie B. Creative