submissions
| David Wilcox – Chet Baker's Unsung Swan Song Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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Indeed. And addiction can take many forms, witness the "anthrax scientist," Bruce Ivins, whose long-ago rejection by a girl for whom he carried a torch the rest of his life led to a series of bizarre, self-destructive responses to the "siren call" culminating in dishonor and death. Are such non-chemical "addictions" really worthy of being classified as such? I believe so. Pathological obsessions such as Ivins' can lead to the same disastrous outcomes as chemical dependency. Musicians and other artists may be somewhat more prone to such demons. The flip side is that we are fortunate in having an outlet which others for whom the "wiring in [their] brain," like Ivins perhaps, do not. Our inner demons may in fact drive creativity. Indeed, the creative impulse can ease the pain and possibly prevent further descent into the abyss. Catharsis and redemption can take many forms. For me, jazz improvisation on saxophone or keyboard and writing songs that evoke nostalgic memories can do it, as can driving a classic car--with my siblings as passengers--through the neighborhood where we grew up, and where I first fell (very much unilaterally) in love. I have no idea whether David Wilcox was an addict, and if so, to what. But in this one song he has expressed most eloquently the "seemingly unbearable pain" that so many of us know all too well. As a long-time Chet Baker fan, hearing this song sung by k. d. lang never fails to evoke ecstatic melancholy. This is a song for the ages. |
submissions
| David Wilcox – Chet Baker's Unsung Swan Song Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
|
Couldn't have said it better myself. For those of us "of a certain age" who remember Chet as a young, hip, West Coast jazz icon, the later twists and turns of his life are a haunting reminder that all glory is, indeed, fleeting. King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, Ziggy Elman, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Parker, Jim Morrison...the list of gifted musicians whose demons took them from us too soon is depressingly long. Thanks for posting such a cogent interpretation of David Wilcox's masterpiece. |
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