Friday, July 8, 2011

Joe Henry "Ohio Air Show Plane Crash"

Most of the time, if I write about a song that evokes a certain memory, the memory is of a time or a place or a person or an event.

But there are a handful of songs, when I hear them, I simply think about listening to them and enjoying then, and advocating for them.

I can't say that this song reminds me of a particular time or place, (I've been listening to it regularly for years), but every time I hear it, I want to tell people about it.

Simply, I think this is one of the best pieces of short story songwriting I've ever heard.

Listen to it and pay close attention to the lyrics.


See the video on Youtube.

I just find it so impressive that the narrator tells the entire story of a failed relationship, in the split second it takes his girlfriend to turn her head, as an air show plane is crashing.

The chugging, repetitive guitar gives the vignette its slow-motion feel as that one little motion illuminates everything in the relationship that had led up to that moment and their subsequent break-up.

Some short story writers could take pages to paint as clear a picture as Henry does in just a few lines.

And hell, the 6 minutes of song do a far better job of selling it's brilliance, that the 15 minutes I spent writing this entry.

2 comments:

  1. So, 9 years on from your writing about this song, and 24(!) after it was recorded. And it still does for me exactly as it does for you. Evocative, wonderful story telling. There are few other songs that really stop me, and make me listen. A couple: MANY from Richard Thompson but especially "Vincent Black Lightning"; Luna's 23 Minutes in Brussels; and on for something completely different, James McMurtry's "Charlemagne's Home Town" (listen to it, and TRY not to be drawn in).
    Can't wait to read more of your Blog...

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  2. I feel the same way. I wish there were a guitar tutorial online for me to follow. Luckily I was able to figure out Trampoline.

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