Tuesday, November 1, 2011

AUTUMN'S ARTIST -- TRIED SO HARD (GENE CLARK)








Stopped awhile this morning on my way back home
I had to realize this time that I'd be all alone
Cause she is moving somewhere far away not slow
And though I tried so hard to please her
She said she really had to go








Even though this time it really hurts me bad
I've been through similarities
It's not the first break I've had
And I just can't let it bring me down too low
And though I tried so hard to please her
There must be something more to know









So I'll stop and look right past the pain
Cause I've been in love before and I can love again
While she is moving somewhere far away not slow
And though I tried so hard to please her
She said she really had to go










4 comments:

  1. The excellent Irish playwright and film maker Conor McPherson is a Gene Clark fan. The incidental music in his play City on a Hill (each scene is preceded by a song, apparently played on the protagonists's turntable) is all by Clark.

    McPherson, a recovered alcoholic, likes ghost stories. City on a Hill prominently features a ghost story, well told by Oliver Platt in the production I saw. McPherson's 2009 film The Eclipse is a fine adult ghost story starring Ciaran Hinds. His play The Weir consists nearly entirely of ghost stories, told to each other by the habitues of a West Ireland pub. The Seafarer, a recent play, may not have any ghosts, but the devil is a key character. (Played by Ciaran Hinds in the production I saw.)1.

    I can't remember any ghost songs by Gene, but it seems fair to say he was haunted and he is certainly haunting.

    Recently I have been playing The World Turns All Around her a lot. It may be my favorite. McGuinn's guitar and Crosby's harmony are gorgeous. But what a verse, chorus, and bridge!

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  2. I'm so pleased you found this one and commented. I will check out Conor McPherson when I'm able to clear away some professional brushwood. I'm guessing that the City On A Hill title must be a reference to Gene's great song White Light. As for ghost songs by Gene, I sort of think of Full Circle as being a ghost song. Also his version of the traditional folk song Fair And Tender Ladies. And, to a degree, She Don't Care About Time. If you've never read it, John Einarson's biography, Mr. Tambourine Man, contains a great deal of interesting information about Gene. I love The World Turns All Around Her. Curtis

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  3. Yes, I was thinking Fair and Tender Ladies, too, one of my favorite songs by him, and by far my favorite version of that song.

    I have that bio and read it, though after a while I had to put it away it was so upsetting.

    It turns out the play is called Shining City, not City on a Hill.

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  4. It IS an upsetting book. Meeting artists we greatly admired and seeing and learning about some of their extreme qualities and personal situations on a fairly regular basis was a hallmark of Caroline's career. I guess it isn't entirely unexpected. Anyway, I once had the opportunity to shake Gene's hand and that moment will always stay with me. Curtis

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