Crossroad 31: The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

Tags

Beyond The Missouri Sky, Charles Mingus, Charlie Haden, Dave Brubeck, Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Joe Cocker, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny

The CD that has this track – beyond the Missouri Sky (short stories) by charlie haden & pat metheny  – was somewhat of a speculative purchase.

The cover art and the title – spacious, melancholic, poetic – drew me in. Sort of lit a sense of fondness & nostalgia for my own home town*. Feelings that only exist by virtue of going beyond its boundaries and limitations.

* Penrith in outer Western Sydney when it was sparsely populated and largely rural

Interest was almost sure to convert to sale …  and the names of the artists sealed it. I trusted it would be a quality offerheard quite a lot of Charlie Haden over the years extending back to school days and some of Pat Metheny. 

I trusted it would be a quality offering.

beyond the Missouri Sky (short stories) by Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny

Both Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny grew up in Missouri – about 100 miles from each other. And composer Jimmy Webb’s roots are not all that far away in the neighbouring state of Oklahoma.

The song has been recorded by many, the first by Joe Cocker in 1974. I had never heard the song (as far as I remember) until I played this album.

It was late, quiet, the track started and the world seemed to stop – a song that seemed as spacious as the Missouri sky. Timeless, a momentary visit to a parallel universe where joy and melancholia can be felt simultaneously.

Webb composed this song around the the title of the highly acclaimed 1966 book from Robert A. Heinlein.

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What connects The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress with Highwayman?

Jimmy Webb is the link – composer of both songs (and many others).

…

Other Stuff You Might Enjoy.

* Pat Metheny’s Official Website

* Charlie Haden Official Website

* Interview (mostly about Charlie Haden) with Jack Black – Charlie Haden’s son-in-law. (16m 58s)

* 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz – A documentary (58m 58s) that focuses on 4 jazz albums released in 1959. Charlie Haden played on one those albums – Ornette Coleman’s The Shape Of Jazz To Come. Haden is also interviewed in the documentary. The other 3 albums are: Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue; Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Hum; Dave Brubeck – Time Out.

* Playlist on YouTube – 10 Clips:

Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny – Live, Germany 2003;
Jimmy Webb;
Joe Cocker from his 1974 album, I Can Stand A Little Rain;
Joe Cocker – Live. Unsure where, I think it is 1983.
Glen Campbell – Live  2001
Joan Baez from her 1987 album Recently;
Judy Collins from her 1975 album Judith;
Radka Toneff – I think this is from the 1982 Fairytales album;
Linda Ronstadt accompanied by Jimmy Webb; (the sound is distorted)
Karin Allyson from her 2004 album Wild For You

Destination next?

North:   Song Of The Moon by Lucia Popp (from Dvorak’s Rusalka)
East:     Islands by King Crimson
South:   Highwayman is on that road
West:    One Day I’ll Fly Away by Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden

Crossroad 30: Highwayman

Tags

Glen Campbell, Highwayman, Highwaymen, Jimmy Webb, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Ronnie Lane, Stone, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson

Highwayman

The Highwaymen

Johnny Cash is the only individual member of The Highwaymen who has been singing to me since I started collecting records. In fact, well before I bought first vinyl LP, I was listening to Cash. He was one of Roger’s (my father’s) favourites.

I heard the others – Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson – much later. But country music didn’t really interest me too much then.

Highwaymen – Nelson, Jennings, Kristofferson, Cash

Nor do the Highwaymen – but somehow their first album is in my shelves and I just love the title song – Highwayman – written by Jimmy Webb.

Jimmy Webb of course is a prolific songwriter. He wrote Highwayman in around 1977 – waking from a dream (after some “professional drinking” with Harry Nilsson) in which he was a highwayman being chased by grenadiers. (Link: Webb’s story of the song.)

The Highwaymen took their name from the song. The four icons of country music had decided to do a project together while they were recording a TV special in Switzerland. Thy began recording in 1984. Marty Stuart played the song to Cash suggesting it would  be perfect for this new country super-group – 4 verses, 4 souls, 4 singers. Then Glen Campbell (who’d recorded the song in 1978 but his record label refused to release it) played it to all four of the super-group – and they immediately had the group’s name, the title of their first album, and a song for their first single.

How are Highwayman & Stone linked?

Both songs track a journey of reincarnation – birth, life, death, rebirth.

Stone (Ronnie Lane)

I’ve been tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor.
I’ve known good times and disaster.
But now I’ve found a teacher, and the teacher has a master,
The master is perfection, so he’ll help us get there faster.

Highwayman (Jimmy Webb)

And when I reach the other side
I’ll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I’ll be back again, and again and again and again and again…

…

Other Stuff You Might Enjoy.

* Live Forever – In the Studio with the Highwaymen: Documentary filmed when making their 3rd album. Part 1 (7m 58s); Part 2 (9m 02s); Part 3 (8m 43s); Part 4 (8m 59s); Part 5 (6m 28s)

* Highwayman performed by Jimmy Webb.

* Highwayman – Jimmy Webb & Mark Knopfler 

* Highwayman – Glen Campbell

* Albert Lee peforming Highwayman. 

Destination next?

North:   The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress by Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny
East:     The Highwayman by Loreena McKennitt (Alfred Noyes poem)
South:   Hurt by Johnny Cash
West:    Stone is that way.