Do Not Foresake Me Oh My Darling Wednesday, November 12, 2003

I am about to do something called "burying the lede," which means the real argument here starts about halfway down (and, now that I read it over, winds the hell all over the place). But bear with me.

Ron Sexsmith is one of the best singer-songwriters around. His lyrics, in particular, are astonishingly good--simple and homely, without any of the flashes of Elvis Costello or Bob Dylan, but with an emotional wallop wordier writers lack. Mrs. WTJ and I chose one of Ron's songs for the first dance at our wedding:

FALLEN
The leaves have lost hold of the branches as always
Which leaves us with gold- and wine-colored pathways
In the same way I've, the same way I've fallen for you

You opened your arms like a school door to summer days
And opened my heart to the rumors of a higher place
Now where was I, baby I've fallen for you

Love is always on the go
It never stays in one place
Day by day it changes and it grows
But you always recognize its face

Day by day it changes and it grows
But you always recognize its face

The leaves have lost hold of the branches as always
Whcih leaves us with gold and wine colored pathways
In the same way I've, the same way I've fallen for you

Like the star in the night, baby I've fallen for you

On top of that, Ron has a tremendous religious sense. Many of his songs are, subtly, about faith and God and all that fun stuff, and even in the ones that aren't, you can hear the footsteps in the garden, if you catch my drift. When I first started going back to church, I wanted to get across to Mrs. WTJ why I was doing it, what it meant to me. So I put together a couple CDs of songs as a sort of "shadow gospel"--songs that weren't explicitly religious but corresponded, in lyrics or just mood, with certain bible passages. Ron was all over the place, and without forcing the issue. This tune, which I used for "then he gave up the ghost," is one of the finest bits of modern lyric-writing I've ever heard:

SEEM TO RECALL
Well a bad day is when I'm up in the air
A better day is when I'm in repair
Like this it's always been
Oh but then again
I seem to recall a time when

The day ahead was an open book
For every page I read, a second look
What I knew then somehow
Can't put my finger on it now
But I seem to recall doing without

I seem to recall when a daydream
Seemed to be all I'd take with me
My wherewithal
I seemed to recall

Now we're bumming round feeling awkwardly at home
Amidst the dumbing down and the talk shows
With nothing much to say
It wasn't always this way
I seem to recall a brighter day

I seem to recall when your light
Seemed to be all all I'd go by
After nightfall
I seem to recall

What I knew then somehow
I've put my finger on it now
I seem to recall that there was no doubt

I seem to recall when your love
Seemed to be all I was so sure of
It could break my fall
I seem to recall

My wherewithal
I seem to recall

Listen to the tune sometime, if you can; listen to what he does with it. You'd never imagine the word "wherewithal" would break your heart.

But.

Ron is a sentimentalist. Last year he put out a record with a really disappointing song called "God Loves Everyone"--the title being, in many ways, the smartest thing about it.

God loves everyone
Like a mother loves her son
No strings at all
Unconditional
Never one to judge
Would never hold a grudge
'Bout what's been done
God loves everyone

There are no gates in heaven
Everyone gets in
Queer or straight
Souls of every faith
Hell is in our minds
Hell is in this life
But when it's gone
God takes everyon

Its love is like a womb
It's like the air from room to room
It surrounds us all
The living and the dead
May we never lose the thread
That bound us all

The killer in his cell
The atheist as well
The pure of heart
And the wild at heart
Are all worthy of its grace
It's written in the face
Of everyone
God loves everyone

There's no need to be saved
No need to be afraid
Cause when it's done
God takes everyone

God loves everyone

He had the best intentions, I'm sure, but the song comes off as "Jesus wants everybody for a moonbeam," and as such wincingly bad. Still, a bad song is forgivable, and the rest of the album is sweet and swellegant.

Then came this, recently, on his Web site:

It's been a tough year thinking back on all the great artists we've lost. But I think Elliott Smith's passing, in some way, is the saddest because I believe he had so much more great music in him. I had the pleasure of meeting him on a few occasions... once in LA in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel..and once in London at the Royal Albert Hall and both times I was struck by his shyness and kindness. It was encouraging for me as a semi-struggling songwriter to see him breakthrough and it always made me try that much harder. I was lucky enough to see him perform once in New York as well, which I remember as being a bit frustrating because he sat on a stool and I couldn't see him at all from the back of the room. Anyway, I wish he could have stuck around a bit longer but I guess the soul wants what the soul wants. The world will miss him very much.


Let me repeat that:

Anyway, I wish he could have stuck around a bit longer but I guess the soul wants what the soul wants.

"The soul wants what the soul wants"? I'm sorry, but that's carrying sentimentalism to the point of moral lunacy. How can you possibly reduce suicide to "what the soul wants"--as if Elliott Smith fell in love with a kitchen knife and his parents didn't approve?

Stuff like that, which is par for the course on artist Web sites, just wears me out. I love the immediacy of the Web, I love the idea of blogs and online journals, but there comes a point where I just don't want to know what people are thinking. A former friend of mine, whom I've gotten a lot of mileage out of on this blog, asked me before he broke things off: "Just about every artist and writer you like disagrees with you" on certain strongly held points. How could I just write off that body of opinion?

Easily. I expect a lot from artists I admire, but intellectual cogency isn't one of them. The ability to write songs, or paint pictures, or tell stories, is not a guarantee of clear vision or common sense--if anything, these days, it's the opposite. I use Ron Sexsmith as an example here precisely because I respect and admire him: Even this guy, sensitive and spiritual and all the rest, is absolutely out of his mind on some issues.

There's a longer post in this, but I don't have it in me right now. But I wish artists would give their opinions some more thought. By letting their opinions get mushy, eventually their art will suffer--as with "God Loves Everyone."

In short, by ignoring their heads, they're stabbing themselves in the heart. Just like Mr. Smith. Who should rest in peace.

@ 10:08:00 PM,

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