Description
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me – Vinyl Record
Released on February 26, 2002, Norah Jones’s debut album Come Away With Me is a genre-defying blend of jazz, pop, country, and folk that catapulted her to international stardom. Produced by Arif Mardin and released by Blue Note Records, the album marked a significant departure from the era’s dominant pop and rock sounds. With its soothing, introspective vibe and Norah’s soulful, smoky vocals, Come Away With Me captivated a wide audience and became an instant classic.
Featuring the timeless hits Don’t Know Why and the title track Come Away With Me, the album offers a gentle yet powerful exploration of love, longing, and heartache. Its success was remarkable, earning Jones five Grammy Awards in 2003, including Album of the Year, and selling over 27 million copies worldwide. The album’s soft, jazz-inflected sound redefined the landscape of early 2000s music, bringing a fresh, sophisticated voice to mainstream listeners.
Born to famed sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar and concert producer Sue Jones, Norah Jones grew up surrounded by a wide variety of musical influences. Despite her family background, Jones was relatively unknown when she began working on Come Away With Me in the early 2000s. After moving to New York City and performing at local jazz clubs, she caught the attention of Blue Note Records, a label renowned for its jazz legacy.
Jones, who wrote some of the songs on the album and collaborated with musicians from various genres, leaned into her eclectic influences. Come Away With Me was recorded with a laid-back, acoustic approach, focusing on the warmth of Jones’s vocals and the subtle intricacies of the instrumentation. The result was an intimate, genre-blending album that defied easy categorization and resonated with a broad audience, from jazz aficionados to pop listeners.
Come Away With Me stands out for its unique sound, a blend of genres that is both understated and deeply emotional. While the album is often classified as jazz, it draws from a wide range of styles, creating a hybrid that feels both timeless and modern. At its core, the album is driven by Jones’s soulful voice and the gentle, acoustic instrumentation that surrounds it.
While not a traditional jazz album, Come Away With Me incorporates many jazz elements, including soft, syncopated rhythms, brushed drums, and the use of piano as a central instrument. Tracks like Don’t Know Why and Turn Me On exemplify this, with their smooth, flowing melodies and relaxed tempos creating an intimate, late-night vibe.
Jones’s love for country and folk music is also evident throughout the album. Songs like Lonestar and Seven Years feature finger-picked acoustic guitar and simple, heartfelt lyrics that recall classic Americana and folk traditions. Her subtle use of steel guitar and the album’s stripped-down production give it a rootsy, organic feel.
Jones’s voice often carries the warmth and emotion of blues and soul, with tracks like The Nearness of You and I’ve Got to See You Again showcasing her ability to convey deep feeling with minimal vocal embellishment. Her phrasing and vocal timbre, combined with the slow, bluesy grooves of some of the songs, lend the album a sense of timeless elegance.
The production on Come Away With Me is understated, allowing Jones’s voice and the natural acoustic textures of the instruments to take center stage. The arrangements are sparse, yet sophisticated, with piano, guitar, and light percussion serving as the primary sound palette. This simplicity enhances the emotional depth of the songs, giving the album a quiet but powerful intensity.
The lyrical content of Come Away With Me revolves around themes of love, heartache, longing, and introspection. Jones’s lyrics are often simple yet evocative, capturing complex emotions with a few well-chosen words. The album’s quiet, reflective tone mirrors these themes, creating a mood of intimacy and contemplation.
Many of the album’s songs explore the complexities of love and desire. In ‘Don’t Know Why,’ Jones expresses a deep sense of yearning and confusion, singing about a missed opportunity for love. The title track, Come Away With Me, is a gentle invitation to escape the world and find solace in love, capturing the tender side of romance.
Heartache is another recurring theme on the album. In Shoot the Moon and I’ve Got to See You Again, Jones sings of lost love and the difficulty of moving on. Her ability to convey sorrow without melodrama gives these songs an understated, yet profound emotional weight.
There is a quiet introspection running through many of the songs on Come Away With Me. Tracks like Seven Years and Lonestar reflect on the passage of time, the search for meaning, and the solace found in solitude. The album’s contemplative mood invites listeners to reflect on their own emotions and experiences, creating a deeply personal listening experience.
Notable Tracks
Don’t Know Why: The album’s breakout hit and signature song, Don’t Know Why is a smooth, jazzy ballad that showcases Jones’s warm, sultry voice. With its gentle piano melody and poetic lyrics about longing, the song became a massive hit and remains one of her most beloved tracks.
Come Away With Me: The title track is a soft, wistful invitation to leave the world behind and find comfort in love. Its simple, acoustic arrangement and heartfelt lyrics make it one of the album’s emotional highlights, perfectly capturing the quiet intimacy that defines the record.
Turn Me On: A cover of John D. Loudermilk’s classic, Turn Me On features Jones’s smoky vocals over a slow, bluesy groove. The song’s sensual lyrics and jazz-inspired arrangement make it a standout track, showcasing Jones’s ability to reinterpret classic material with her own unique style.
Shoot the Moon: This reflective song about lost love features a gently swaying rhythm and one of Jones’s most emotive vocal performances. The song’s bittersweet lyrics and delicate arrangement capture the pain of unfulfilled dreams.
Lonestar: A nod to Jones’s country influences, Lonestar is a soft, melancholic track about isolation and longing. The use of pedal steel guitar and Jones’s plaintive vocals give the song a haunting, almost ethereal quality.
Come Away With Me was met with widespread critical acclaim, praised for its subtlety, emotional depth, and genre-blending sound. Critics lauded Jones’s understated vocal style, the album’s minimalistic production, and its fusion of jazz, pop, country, and blues influences. The album’s commercial success was equally remarkable, going on to sell over 27 million copies worldwide and earning Jones five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Best New Artist, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
The album’s success also helped bring jazz-infused, acoustic music back into the mainstream during a period dominated by pop and hip-hop, and it remains a touchstone for artists looking to create genre-blending music with a quiet, reflective tone.
Come Away With Me is a beautifully crafted debut that introduced Norah Jones as one of the most distinctive and talented voices of her generation. The album’s mix of jazz, pop, country, and blues influences, combined with Jones’s subtle, soulful vocals, created a timeless sound that continues to resonate with listeners more than two decades after its release.
For fans of genre-blending music that favors intimacy and emotional depth over bombast, Come Away With Me is an essential listen. Its themes of love, heartache, and introspection, coupled with its elegant, understated production, make it a timeless classic that invites repeated listening and reflection.
20th Anniversary Edition
Gatefold Jacket
Target exclusivity on this release ended and copies began selling in independent record shops without the Target hype sticker. Some copies released at this time featured a different hype sticker incorrectly identifying the record as a limited edition colored vinyl.
Brand new, never played and still in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Don’t Know Why
Seven Years
Cold Cold Heart
Feelin’ The Same Way
Come Away With Me
Shoot The Moon
Turn Me On
Lonestar
I’ve Got To See You Again
Painter Song
One Flight Down
Nightingale
The Long Day Is Over
The Nearness Of You
