Sep 13 2004
The World’s Most Depressing Song
…was written by Townes Van Zandt, and it’s amazing how he’s able to pull it off, how I can listen to this song and say, “That is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard,” and then want to hear it again. When asked, who is your favourite songwriter, Bob Dylan said, “Townes Van Zandt,” and that’s my answer too. (I’m pretty sure Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and a few others would say the same.) A few years ago when I first tried to play one of Townes Van Zandt’s songs, I immediately felt like I was playing one of my own. Like all this stuff was coming out of me. I’ve since had that experience many times, and I am hooked. Townes also wrote a bunch of happy songs, which I’ve played with some friends of mine more than once. But when I’m by myself (which is usually when I have a tape recorder), I seem to gravitate to songs appropriate to someone playing their guitar alone in a dark room of an empty house. Townes Van Zandt’s A Song For…, recorded in August of 2003, is a good example (and a reluctant post on my part because it’s not an easy song to pull off).
