She Used to Wanna Be a Ballarina

Buffy Sainte-Marie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 20, 1993)
• Original Release Date: 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Vanguard Records
• ASIN: B000000EKM
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,279 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buffy's Best Collection, June 23, 2000

By 

Chino (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: She Used to Wanna Be a Ballarina (Audio CD)

Buffy is often forgotten among the group of female singers, like Joan Baez and Judy Collins, who sang protest songs in the 70's but Buffy is among the best. The war protest songs "Moratorium" and "Song of the French Partisan" are some of the most moving in the collection. "Soldier Blue" gives a lump in the throat when you listen. The title track "She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina" touches everyones sense that their hopes and dreams when they were young were never met. All the tracks are a pleasure to listen to, but each listener will have a sense that one or two speak for their soul.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get the CD, record, cassette and 8 track, July 20, 2001

By 

Aage Nielsen (Boise, Idaho United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: She Used to Wanna Be a Ballarina (Audio CD)

This is the album that made me an ardent Buffy fan twenty years ago when I was in my late teens. I assumed for a long time that it was everyone's favorite, until I realized that she has more than a dozen classic albums. These days, even though I have her entire collection, including her timeless Coincidence and Up Where We Belong albums, I probably listen to Quiet Places the most. However, there is still something so magical about the Ballerina album that sets it apart from the rest of her oeuvre. Her recording of "Song of the French Partisan" is so moving and picturesque that it was honestly ten years before I realized that the recording was done with only voice and guitar. I was only six when the movie Soldier Blue came out, so I didn't run across that one until adulthood either, but the title song, featured on Ballerina is equally stirring. The initial connection with this album really came with "Sweet September Morning", which I am sure I heard on the radio as a child. For me at least, the song speaks to a joyous spirituality; literally finding Jesus, or a love of a different sort. The theme has a charming ambiguity to make it interesting and it is certainly accessible enough for airplay. In my early thirties, after a night of drinking, nothing soothed the soul more than Buffy's cover of Neil Young's "Helpless" and the haunting "Now You've Been Gone For a Long Time". This album just doesn't get old. These days, I would consider her Spanish "The Surfer" to be a favorite. Her work with Neil Young's band Crazy Horse would be incentive enough for most people to get this album, but be aware that you are in for so much more.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An album of scope and attainment, September 23, 2000

By 

Steven Thornton "HeathCliffe" (East Bentleigh, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: She Used to Wanna Be a Ballarina (Audio CD)

I first bought this record 25 years ago and subsequently replaced it with the c.d. Few artists could match the range and strength of what is her most complete recording. The fact that Buffy wrote about half the album and the choices she made in selecting songs to cover, make this a certain Desert Island Disc. HIGHLIGHTS:1 The stunning version of Neil Young's Helpless with it's thumping drums, lamentive lyric and authorative vocal. Buffy expresses the meaning of the song so well. 2 The Surfer, Stratospheric vocal-has to be heard to be believed. 3 Song of the French Partisan- earily melancholic. 4 Now You've Been Gone-An acoustic treat. Other delights await. One of my all-time favourite album's from an artist who truly deserves the epithet.