The first song that many of this column’s readers might think of if asked to name a favorite song in the loneliness genre (to coin a genre)
By Steven Brodsky
… would be Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”:
Another outstanding song in the genre, less known, is Harry Chapin’s “A Better Place to Be”:
Those who’ve ever been very lonely are likely to identify with one or both of the characters in the Harry Chapin song and the character in the Hank Williams song.
Just announced: Michael Martin Murphey to perform a concert at the Sellersville Theater on Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. (doors will open at 7:30 p.m.)
… The verse is Isaiah 64:6. As translated in the King James Version, the verse reads: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
I’m writing about Leonard Cohen’s “If It Be Your Will” and Billy Joe Shaver’s “If You Don’t Love Jesus.”
Most people who’ve heard the songs haven’t encountered the verse directly (and most of this column’s readers haven’t heard the Billy Joe Shaver song).
In the Leonard Cohen song, Isaiah 64:6 is alluded to in the line: “In our rags of light, all dressed to kill.”
In the Billy Joe Shaver song, an allusion to the verse appears as: “Take your rotten rags of righteousness and stuff ’em up your self.”
Jelly Roll’s (Jason DeFord’s) opening statement at a Senate committee hearing
By Steven Brodsky
Thank you, Jelly Roll!
Posted 1-12-24
In tribute to the late Jimmy Buffett
By Steven Brodsky
… I’m pleased to share links to a nearly one-hour phone interview that Clay Eals did with Jimmy Buffett on October 26, 2000 for Clay’s book Steve Goodman: Facing the Music.