Though as I’d previously implied I have sort of a complicated relationship with country music, This Right Here is why I always made an exception for Emmylou Harris.
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They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
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Good taste in music, Joel. She’s one of my favorites and has been for nearly fifty years.
Angelic voice and unsurpassed integrity as a singer. Allison Krauss is a similar voice for a younger generation. Gillian Welch is another, although she doesn’t have the vocal chops that Emmylou or Allison does. Check Gillian out on April the 14th Part 1 (also called “Ruination Day.)
(Leonard Cohen)
Say a prayer for the cowgirl her horse ran away
She’ll walk till she finds him her darlin’ her stray
But the river’s in flood and the roads are awash
And the bridges break up in the panic of loss.
And there’s nothin’ to follow nowhere to go
He’s gone like the summer gone like the snow
And the crickets are breaking her heart with their song
As the day caves in and the night is all wrong.
Did she dream it was he who went galloping past
And bent down the fern broke open the grass
And printed the mud with the well hammered shoe
That she nailed to his feet in the dreams of her youth.
And although he goes grazin’ a minute away
She tracks him all night she tracks him all day
And she’s blind to his presence except to compare
Her injury here with his punishment there.
Then at home on a branch on a high stream
A songbird sings out so suddenly
And the sun is warm and the soft winds ride
On a willow tree by the riverside.
Ah, the world is sweet and the world is wide
He’s there where the light and the darkness divide
And the steam’s comin’ off him he’s huge and he’s shy
And he steps on the moon when he paws at the sky.
And he comes to her hand but he’s not really tame
He longs to be lost she longs for the same
And he’ll bolt and he’ll plunge through the first open pass
To roll and to feed in the sweet mountain grass.
Or he’ll make a break for the high plateau
Where there’s nothing above and nothing below
It’s time for their burden the whip and the spur
Will she ride with him or will he ride with her.
So she binds herself to her galloping steed
And he binds himself to the woman in need
And there is no space just left and right
And there is no time but there is day and night.
Then she leans on his neck and whispers low
Whither thou goest I will go
And they turn as one and they head for the plain
No need for the whip oh no need for the rein.
Now the clasp of this union who fastens it tight
Who snaps it asunder the very next night
Some say it’s him some say it’s her
Some say love’s like smoke beyond all repair.
So my darlin’, my darlin’ just let it go by
That old silhouette on the great western sky
And I’ll pick out a tune and they’ll move right along
And they’re gone like smoke and they’re gone like this song.
Say a prayer for the cowgirl…
John, it’s funny – I was off looking up the lyrics, because as much as I love Harris’s voice she doesn’t always enunciate very clearly – just when you posted them. Also until we did that I never knew it was a Cohen song. I knew she didn’t write it, but never bothered to learn who did.
Well Joel, that song did really sort of yank some latent emotion into daylight, so I was focused but missing some words she sings. She has my attention see, so I really want to know what she is saying. I find she enunciates really well when I’ve a cheat-sheet to follow with 🙂 !
Didn’t know it was a Cohen piece either. I guess she tweaked a little with a version he had done. She has been out there in our time and space a little longer than I, and now and again some song she has done crosses my way and adds some light and color.
Thanks Emmylou (And you Joel for having her cross my path again)