An old friend and I have been exchanging newspaper articles
and notes about the passing of Jesse Winchester, whose career had mostly
escaped me but whose songs have been deeply imprinted in my memory for years.
Now that he is gone, at such a relatively young age, I regret not having gone
looking for his albums and concert dates more assiduously. And it frustrates me
that his life was altered, like so many of the Vietnam era generation, because
of that tragic misadventure. Although he had said that fleeing to Canada in
1967 was what created him as a musician, it must have been difficult not to be
able to return to his native South or perform and record with peers in the
United States until President Carter’s pardon in 1977.
Like so many others, I knew his music long before I knew
him. It was Joan Baez who
introduced me to "Brand New Tennessee Waltz" on her 1971 double-album classic,
Blessed Are. It is hard to believe (as Elvis Costello said on the Sundance
channel) that this was his first song.
I’ve a sadness too sad to be true
But I left Tennessee in a hurry dear
The same way that I’m leaving you.
Then it was Ian Matthews who covered "Biloxi" on his 1974
album, Some Days You Eat The Bear, which I heard long before Jimmy Buffet’s hit
version.
Stars can see Biloxi
Stars can find their faces in the sea
We are walking down beside the ocean
We are splashing naked in the water
And the sky is red from off toward New Orleans
Four years later, Emmy Lou Harris got me with "Defying
Gravity" on Quarter Moon in Ten Cent Town.
I live on a big round ball
I never do dream that I’ll fall
But even the day that I do
I jump off and smile back at you
While it is tempting to think that Jesse was more song
writer than singer, how many people would have done this gospel number a capella
with Bonnie Raitt and Emmy Lou singing backup? Bonnie posted on it her Facebook
page as a tribute.
I am sure there are more covers to be found in my collection
and I am off to the record store in search of Jesse’s albums to hear his take
on his songs. It seems as if he
wrote his epitaph at the beginning.
At the brand new Tennessee Waltz
You’re literally waltzing on air;
At the brand new Tennessee Waltz
There ain’t no telling who will be there.
