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.