DADDY'S ALL GONE
"I don't have much to say Thought I'd call you up anyway Just to try to show you the way That I feel today"
The best song about the road is probably Bob Seger's "Turn The Page". Listen to the original studio version on "Back In '72". It embodies all the euphoria and loneliness of being a traveling musician. You can hear the wind whistle by the bus on the prairie.
But "Turn The Page" is not my favorite song about the road. That's James Taylor's "Daddy's All Gone".
There are some people who LOVE the road, who LIVE for the road, however much they bitch about it. And then there are others who are reluctant road warriors. They enjoy the stardom, but they yearn for the connection. The connection of home.
"I sure am on the road I don't need to say much more Just the same old well-known stranger That I was before"
People THINK they know you. But they really don't. And sometimes you're even your BEST SELF! But if only they could see you in your dark moods. When you can't make conversation, when you're depressed, when you're anything but a star. THIS is what James Taylor is singing about, and this resonates. You see Jon Bon Jovi, even Bob Seger, they're ICONS! They LIVE to be larger than life. Whereas the troubadour, the singer/songwriter, is only trying to REFLECT LIFE! Somehow you think you could be him, if only you had a bit more talent. You think you KNOW him, which, of course, only makes the performer feel that much more distant.
Still, despite the disconnection, the troubadour has a responsibility. To do his act.
"You see there's a room full of smiling faces There's a man standing by the door Says it's time to change our places And get down on the floor And kill 'em baby"
That's what you want to do. Knock them over. With your insight and your flair. Your unique combination of raw talent and presentation.
That's the way I see it anyway.
You see they're trying to get XM and Sirius licensed by the CRTC.
You'd think it'd be a slam dunk. But nothing's a slam dunk in Canada. Whereas in the U.S., lobbyists and congressmen write legislation in the middle of the night, in Canada there are HEARINGS! Sometimes ENDLESS! You see, they want to do the RIGHT THING!
So the licensees of these two services assembled Canadian music bigwigs in the Mod Club. Fed them high-priced hors d'oeuvres. And started telling their story.
Only one thing. Talking about radio is kind of like dancing about architecture. You see radio isn't a group of people in a room. It's one person ALONE in a room, or a car, with the transceiver glowing, listening, their life being SAVED! It's RELIGION!
That's what I had to tell them. To ignore the boring speeches. To just know that when they GOT satellite radio, THEY'D be saved.
You see satellite radio isn't an iPod, it's not iTunes, satellite radio is a COMPANION! It LIVES! It breathes and speaks. It's UNPREDICTABLE! It EDUCATES you.
Needless to say, I said the above with a lot more expletives. And a few histrionics. That's my act.
But now I'm in my hotel room alone. And I can't calm down.
YOU CAN CLOSE YOUR EYES
In April of my freshman year of college, the follow-up to "Sweet Baby James" was released, "Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon.
Oh, how I played that album.
But as much as I played it, it never resonated like the first two. The first two were perfect. There were no EXTRA songs. Every track counted. Whereas "Mud Slide Slim" contained a bunch of bum cuts, like the title tune, and the hit, "You've Got A Friend", was written by Carole King, and her version was BETTER!
But three of my all time favorite JT songs are on that record.
Unfortunately, they weren't all in a row, not even all on the same side. But when I finally bought the CD, a decade and a half later, I programmed them, and just them, and listened to them over and over again.
The killer from side one is "Riding On A Railroad".
This isn't an HO, not a Lionel. And it ain't the Southern Pacific either. No, it's something closer to the Festival Express. A train for just you and me. Across the Rockies. You've got the banjo picking out the rhythm of the wheels on the track. And a fiddle representing that ongoing momentum, the INERTIA of a train. Although the song is only two minutes and forty one seconds long, it represents a complete JOURNEY!
Over on the second side, we've got a story song, "Machine Gun Kelly".
"I tell you about Machine Gun Kelly He rode along the outlaw trail Machine Gun Kelly was a simple man But the woman was as hard as hell Watch out Machine Gun Don't let her run you 'round Don't let a woman put you six feet in the ground"
There's a laconic GROOVE! Like the song is sung by an inmate, who's seen it all. There's a reflection, a WISDOM, as opposed to the immediacy of so much rock music. Current events don't count, this is a song of LIFE!
But even though both of these songs are keepers, it's the third that provides the glue, that holds them together, that makes them a trilogy that roots me in this life. From college, to live-in relationships, to marriage, to Toronto. And that's "You Can Close Your Eyes".
"Well the sun is surely sinking down But the moon is slowly rising So this old world must still be spinning 'round And I still love you"
I love you, I do.
I can't believe you read all this stuff. I can't believe you care. It's not only why I do it, it's why I'm ALIVE! It KEEPS me alive. Because life is about telling stories. But not only telling, but LISTENING, HEARING! To speak and be heard is the ultimate goal in this life. You've helped me achieve it. And for that I thank you.
"So close your eyes You can close your eyes, it's all right I don't know no love songs And I can't sing the blues anymore But I can sing this song And you can sing this song When I'm gone"
At this point, readers on the west coast are just about to hit the hay. Most on the east coast are already catching z's. I'm about to join you. I'm done singing the blues, and I've got a few love songs, but for now, I'm done. You can finish the story in your mind. Because really, it's not my story, but yours. What's important is your FANTASY, not my personal reality. It's what I touch in YOUR life that counts. The resonance. THAT supersedes reality. THAT'S the main connection. THAT'S the UNDERSTANDING.
"It won't be long before another day We gonna have a good time And no one's gonna take that time away You can stay as long as you like"
I had a good time today. Riding the subway to Gary Slaight's office, seeing not only Toronto (hell, the train goes ABOVE GROUND), but its multiethnic inhabitants, going about their business so peacefully. Touring the Standard Broadcasting operation. Hanging with my peeps at the gig. Even walking on the shores of Lake Ontario in the dark.
I'm not gonna stay any longer, but I'll be back.
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