Natalie Merchant performs at the Broward Center. (Veda Jo Jenkins / sflimages.com)

Photos: Natalie Merchant at the Broward Center | Visit this photographer’s website

“Oh, I want to thank you for so many gifts you gave with love and tenderness/I wanna thank you/I want to thank you for your generosity, the love and the honesty that you gave me/I want to thank you, show my gratitude, my love and my respect for you, I wanna thank you/Oh I want to thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…”
-Lyrics from “Kind and Generous” Natalie Merchant

I can’t get the song out of my head, but I’m not complaining. What great lyrics to have playing in my mind engraved by Natalie Merchant’s encore performance Wednesday night at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

With the crowd encircling the stage they sang:

“Na Na na na na na na na na na
na na na na na na na na na na”

Merchant took her fans back to the old days, even as far back as 1987 with the 10,000 Maniacs song “Hey Jack Kerouac”, then playing oldies like “Weeping Pilgrim”, “Carnival”, “The Letter” and “These Are Days”. For many these are the songs of yesteryear, before Merchant retreated from public view back in 2003 for what Merchant called “maternity leave”.

Playing almost two separate shows, Merchant first gave a preview of her new album Leave Your Sleep. The sound is the same, maybe a little more subdued, but the musical arrangement accentuated the poetic lyrics. While other mothers were reading Dr. Seuss and Go Dog Go, Merchant found poetry from the late 1800’s, researching the authors and then putting the words to music. This was quite fitting for this old soul who shared this information in almost a tutorial fashion with the crowd. giving us insight on how songs come to fruition.

Getting inspiration from poetry she read to her daughter, Lucia, Merchant used the words from poets dating as far back as the early 1800’s, from sources like E.E. Cummings, Victorian England, Charles Carryl and of course Mother Goose.

For this tour, Merchant brought together a wide variation of multi-talented musicians to make up her seven-piece orchestra. I couldn’t keep track of all the various instruments played. The bass player switched to the tuba and the piano player also played the accordion, helping create different genres of musical style from classic orchestra, blues, jazz, country twang and even a little polka.

Unfortunately for her fans, Merchant will be retiring after this tour. Is it the call of motherhood? She did not say.

Band member Ritchie Sterns sums it up: “I love doing this … playing music, traveling. We’re learning new stuff. I could be doing this for months. I just miss my kids.”