Vintage Music Swap
Andrew Bird, Billy Strings, John Prine, and Blaze Foley
“Blame it all on my roots…”
—Garth Brooks
“This week’s theme is “Vintage Music Swap.” Three solid songs plus a Bonus Track. There’s no integrative motif here, but this is the spirit of the Swap: a group of friends trading out music we like. So enjoy a classic Swap as we trade out some songs and learn about a country star that never was.
Bloodless by Andrew Bird (Mat)
We live in an age of angst. It’s easy to feel unsettled, anxious and worried all the time. I am sure not immune to it. That’s why I have been flabbergasted by “Bloodless” by Andrew Bird since the first time I heard it. This song sends shivers down my spine. The opening line, "They’re profiting from your worry,” starts the shiver and it really hits by the time Bird calmly intones, “It’s an uncivil war… bloodless for now.” The poets, he writes, are exploding like bombs. The gentry is sipping champagne. What should I do? “Turn around and quote a well known psalm.” Check out his awesome paraphrase of Psalm 37: “Don’t you worry ‘bout the wicked, Don’t you envy those who do wrong, and your innocence will be like the dawn, While the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.” Great advice.
This track is a highlight on a triumph of a record. In my world, “My Finest Work Yet” rarely goes long without getting some playtime. The whole thing is worth a listen. However, be sure to check out “Bloodless” and check out from the endless cycle of worry and rage. Don’t you worry ‘bout the wicked, don’t you envy those who do wrong.
Also available on Apple Music.
Know It All by Billy Strings (Adam)
What a Know It All!
Well I thought I knew it all, 'til I crashed into the wall
Let me learn from my mistakes and try to pick up all the pieces
Adolescence is the time when you feel like you know it all and you are sure to make everyone know that. Is that what the great guitar picking hippie, Billy Strings is referencing? Could be. Either way, we can all relate to times when we thought we knew it all and in fact, we didn’t. Billy is right, it does feel like crashing right into a wall. If you have never experienced Billy Strings and the sheer talent he has in his fingers when given a guitar you are truly missing out. Who knew hippies could love bluegrass so much? Learn from your mistakes, pick up all the pieces, and give this jam a listen!
Also available on Apple Music.
Clay Pigeons by John Prine (Kody)
John Prine covered this song by Blaze Foley, the subject of this week’s Bonus Track, on his 2005 album Fair&Square - an album that arrived after Prine’s five-year hiatus from the Music scene due to a neck cancer diagnosis. Given that context, you can see why Prine chose it.
Change the shape that I'm in
And get back in the game
And start playing again
I listened to this song A LOT in 2020 after losing my job. It’s a song for when you’ve been knocked off the horse and you’re not really sure what to do next. Prine’s voice, weakened by radiation treatment, adds an extra something to the song’s meaning.
I'm tired of running round
Looking for answers to questions that I already know
I could build me a castle of memories
Just to have somewhere to go
Count the days and the nights that it takes
To get back in the saddle again
Feed the pigeons some clay
Turn the night into day
Start talking again when I know what to say
Also available on Apple Music.
Bonus Track: Nowhere to Run - A Short Appreciation for Blaze Foley by Brett Rudder
“If I could only fly…If I could only fly
I’d bid this place goodbye, to come and be with you
But I can hardly stand – I’ve got nowhere to run…
Another sinking sun, and one more lonely night.”
Legend has it that Blaze Foley (or Deputy Dawg, as he was often called) picked out a melody and sang those words to Sybill Rosen, the only girl he ever loved; a last goodbye, a turning page; one of those faded loves and memories. He left her bed that night to join friends like Townes Van Zandt in Austin – and died in obscurity 10 years later, in February 1989.
Born in 1949 in the brick capital of the world (Malvern, Arkansas, of course), Michael David Fuller was never going to be a star; he didn’t even want to – “stars burn out, but legends never die,” he was wont to say. His childhood, like his adult life, was full of wild stories: spent with a family of traveling singers, fleeing an alcoholic and abusive father, squaring off against polio, surviving with a character-defining limp, and trying as best he could not to be a "fat boy” – as he waxes so poetically in his first song.
Then came Sybill. In a life bookended by hardship and tragedy – albeit upheld by good humor – she gleamed a glorious respite, living in the Georgia woods in a tree. Before he emerged in true country fashion as the “Duct Tape Messiah”, Blaze found his true calling, through his years with Sybill, as lover and poet. But his restlessness won out; he was born to be a legend. Townes would later say, “He’s only gone crazy once – decided to stay.” He left Sybill’s bed that evening in 1979 to disappear into a world of alcohol, pain, and depression – a world that ended in true Blaze fashion – shot and killed protecting a friend from certain harm.
“Didn't try to fall in love with you
Tried everything that I could do
To keep myself from falling
Like I've done so many times…
…Win or draw no chance to lose
Picture cards can't picture you
But I can see you like you are
If I just close my eyes
I saw daylight in your eyes…”
We can thank Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson for realizing the beauty of Blaze Foley in covering “If I Could Only Fly”. I find in his songs and melodies some of the most heartfelt (and heartbreaking) lyrics, which often causes me to count my own blessings, thank God for the memories I have, and be on the lookout for something more. Blaze never did become a star – but he left us a legend.
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Brett Rudder lives in Greenville, South Carolina. He is in a band called The Gregorys. His favorite cover to play is “I’m So Lonesome I could Cry” by Hank Williams. If Brett could open for any band, he’d choose U2.
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-TheMusicSwap