Sunday, November 10, 2013

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack: Distance

Richard Thompson... an under-sung guitar hero and lyricist:


It's a desperate game we play,
Throw our souls, our lives, away
Wounds that can't be mended
And debts that can't be paid
Oh I played and I got stung
Now I'm biting back my tongue
I'm sweeping out
The footprints where I strayed

Keep your distance, keep your distance
When I feel you close to me what can I do but fall
Keep your distance, oh keep your distance
With us it must be all or none at all
Aye.  Truer words were never spoken.

In other news... it's yet another brilliant day here on The High Plains o' New Mexico and we're doin' the usual, customary, and quite reasonable thing: takin' Happy Hour on the verandah.  All that will come to an end the day after tomorrow, unfortunately.  Witness:


Note Tuesday's forecast... SNOW?  Aiiieee!  Methinks we might be indoors on Wednesday and Thursday, too.  Ah, well.  T'is the season, eh?  In the meantime we shall continue as we've begun.

7 comments:

  1. 42 degrees and a very blustery day here and I wore shorts because that's what Californians do even at this time of year and even if they ain't in Cali no more! It will be warmer tomorrow.

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    1. Shorts and 42 degrees? You're a madman! ;-)

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  2. I don't particularly like this word because of its over use, but in regards to Richard Thompson it's right on the mark -- this guy and this song are AWESOME. And I never even heard of him before. Thanks for this.

    As for the weather, it's rare that your forecast matches ours here in TN. But for Tuesday we're expecting rain mixed with snow and by Tuesday night a 40 degree F. drop down to the mid 20s. We'll be getting out the blankets and quilts for sure.

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    1. And I never even heard of him before.

      You heard of Thompson before, Dan. He wrote and sang the original version of "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." As for the weather... I MIGHT turn the heat on tomorrow. I've run neither the furnace nor the AC in well over a month and my utility bills are much the better for it. You're liable to get blankets of something else OUTDOORS, too... from the sound o' things.

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    2. So it's that Thompson. I forgot about him and the Vincent BL. Dang it, he is good.

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  3. I don't particularly like the word myself, but Richard Thompson is AWESOME, and Keep Your Distance is one on his best efforts.

    If you are so inclined, you have a body of work dating back to the early 1970's to explore. Richard was a founding member of Fairport Convention, and is still producing absolutely first rate music to this day (for example, Dad's Gonna Kill Me, where Dad is Baghdad).

    A couple of month's ago I had a quasi-religious experience when I attended a concert by Richard, EmmyLou Harris, and Rodney Crowell. Despite three decades of sadly unrequited love for EmmyLou, the highlight of the evening was Richard's rendition of 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, which Buck has featured before --"red hair and black leather -- my favorite color scheme" is one of my favorite lines from Richard.

    As as added bonus, Linda Thompson, Richard's ex-wife, Linda, is also AWESOME. I discovered Linda through Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour when he played a "Withered and Died" -- beautifully sung by Linda and sounding like something from Child Ballads, but actually written by Richard in the mid 1970's. Richard and Linda recorded 5 or 6 albums, a couple of which are not readily available. Check out "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" and "Shoot Out the Lights" on Amazon or ITunes. After their divorce Linda was stricken with dysphonia, and her career was interupted for several years. As the condition gradually cleared up, the has produced a couple of excellent work in the last 10 or so years (Fashionably Late in 2002 and Versatile Heart in 2007 -- the country/blues song Do Your Best for Rock and Roll is Joplinesque).

    J. R. Burns


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    1. Oh, I SO hear you, J.R. ... and I'd have loved to have been at that concert with you a couple o' months ago. I have "a thing" for Emmylou, too. ;-)

      I have a couple o' Richard and Linda albums... "Shoot Out the Lights" and "Sunnyvista." Both are excellent. His work with Fairport Convention is a serious hole in my collection, though... yet another instance of "so much music, so little time (and money)." Richard did a one-hour live gig on XM a couple o' few months ago and I happened to catch the show at the beginning when I was out running errands. I got home and sat in the car, in the driveway, for the remainder of the show. The man is THAT good.

      Thanks for weighing in!

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