Podcast #14 – J.D. Souther

If you could trust me
Try and believe me
Listen to me when I say
When I say that love is a burning fire
And it will not fade away

I was hung up on a girl once.  She finally told me she was getting a divorce.  When I ran into her a matter of months after she and her husband separated she said she was OVER him.  COMPLETELY!

My friend Jeff says you never get over them.  That love lasts forever.  However much the flame flickers.  I’ve come to agree.

If you’re the kind of person who washes his hands of another after a relationship, doesn’t spend hours awake staring at the ceiling, never has that ache in his lower stomach, then you probably won’t appreciate J.D. Souther’s music.

J.D. Souther is a friend in a bar.  Not a sad drunk, but someone with experience.  Between jobs, between homes, between girlfriends.  He’s not asking for pity.  He’s not telling you about all his successes.  Rather he’s telling you where he’s at.  From deep inside.  The honest truth.  His philosophy.

That’s what I loved about the singer-songwriters.  The emotional honesty.  Oh, they called them troubadours.  The scene started with James Taylor and ended sometime in the seventies.  Oh, there are still people playing acoustic guitars and singing today.  But somehow their songs ring hollow.  They’re written for their age group.  They’re not universal.  Like the work of Joni Mitchell.

"Black Rose" was produced by Peter Asher and engineered by Val Garay.  It sounds like it’s playing in the kitchen.  Crystal clear.  There’s no static, just direct communication.

The above lyrics are from "Baby Comes Home".  Listen to the podcast, and you’ll hear the story.  But, my goal here isn’t to inform you of my history.  Oh, I hope you’ll resonate, you’ll identify.  But really, I want you to hear the music.  Because almost nobody has.

Listen to the writer’s rendition of "Faithless Love".

But be mesmerized by "Baby Come Home".  And "Your Turn Now".

I’ve read a couple of books that touch on the same subjects, make me feel the emotions the writer is sharing are the same as mine.  Pick up Pam Houston’s "Cowboys Are My Weakness".  There’s a real person in there.  But, the written word doesn’t compare with sound, with music.  Music penetrates you like steak marinating in wine.  It seeps into your pores.  Gets into your blood.  Starts circulating.  It merges with you, it IS you.

This is why people want to get close to musicians.  This is why when you do an endorsement you break the bond.  The listener isn’t being offered any endorsement deals, all he’s got is his emotions, and his faculties, as he tries to figure out this crazy fucked up life.  If you soothe him and give him insight, if you’re honest, if he can trust you, he’s yours forever.

"Your Turn Now" only shows twenty plays in my iTunes library.

But that doesn’t include all the spins on my iPod.

And neither of them are in the league of the spins in my head.

A great tune penetrates you, it becomes your companion, it owns you.  You whip it out all the time, sometimes break out into song unexpectedly, because it just seems right, it just feels GOOD!

The moon was yellow
And the sky was cool
The night can make a promise of love
Or it can make you a fool

Just two nights ago, at the T Lazy 7 ranch, standing around the fire with my buddies, I could see every star in that Colorado sky, and the landscape was illuminated by an almost full moon.  I started telling a joke that had already been spun, and I felt like a fool.  But the promise of love, as she looked into the sky and was mesmerized too, made me feel like I ruled.

P.S.  This week my segment of the podcast begins at 19:52.  So, if you’d rather not hear what comes before, just slide the diamond in iTunes or on your iPod to the foregoing minute mark and let her rip from there.

You can listen or download the podcast from Rhino’s site

Or you can subscribe in the iTunes Music Store.  Just search for Rhino, click on "Podcasts" and it will come up.

OR, click on the link below, and if you’ve got a podcast-ready version of iTunes installed on your computer the program will launch and you can subscribe on the page that results (hang on a second for the process to complete).

Apple

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