This is an attempt to reconstruct another of the posts that vanished into the ether when my blog temporarily went walkies a few weeks ago…except I’m not sure how I started that one off, so I’ll just dive clumsily into this one:
The question in the title of this post refers to the Damnations, who were once an exceptionally fine band based in Austin, TX, and seemed to have a great future ahead. What prompted me to ask the rhetorical question was having “For Awhile,” one of the songs on their superb first album, Half Mad Moon, come up on the iPod.* I hadn’t listened to the record** in a long time, and that wistful, simple song reminded me of everything that was great about the band: Rob Bernard’s flashy-but-not-too-flashy guitar playing, the sweet harmonies of sisters Amy Boone and Deborah Kelly, and maybe more than anything, Amy’s incredible songwriting. I admire lots of female songwriters, from Lori Carson to Sam Phillips to countless more, but Amy Boone had a way with lyrics that was unlike any other woman songwriter I’ve ever encountered (and not like a whole lot of males either, come to think of it). That was what put me in total awe of her, so much so that when they played Twangfest 3, way back in 1999, and hung out with the rest of us at the motel after the show, I was too awestruck to go up and talk to her. And that’s saying a lot, because I’ve conquered awe sufficiently to talk to nearly every musician I’ve ever really wanted to, even the supposedly unapproachable Jay Farrar (who was perfectly approachable and talkative when I met him, but we had some friends in common, which probably helped). I can’t really think of any other musicians who could even potentially have that effect on me, except maybe Iris DeMent and the aforementioned Sam. With Amy Boone, I’d either have been completely speechless or made a Chris-Farley-style fool of myself.
I’m not sure exactly why. But she could write a song like “Kansas,” which was historical (and historically accurate), odd, not exactly standard girly-love-song fare (not that I’m suggesting that that’s all most female songwriters can write, of course–just that it’s a very unexpected topic and one that shouldn’t make a great song, but somehow does) and catchy as hell, and then write “Spit and Tears,” arguably the best song ever written about a dog, and then turn around and–all on the same record–write “For Awhile,” which is simple but absolutely heartbreaking:
For a while, right away
Before true confessions
The weather’s always better on common ground
Until cloudy waters rise and you lose that ground
And you start falling
Calling it love
Calling it love
Finally touch down
A whole ocean shattered like glass
We drank that potion so fast and turned
Wanting more when we’re doing the same
Falling
Calling it love
Calling it love
What do you mean by “falling”?
Ain’t no use in hanging around
Emptiness swallows its own path
I watch my weakness go down easy
And I pray it won’t last
Fallling
Calling it love
Calling it love
Mm, love
Where do you see yourself falling?
It’s a song that’s both obliquely specific and transparently universal. That probably doesn’t come across just from transcribing the lyrics (I think any lyric can be made to look stupid or brilliant without musical context), but when I listen to it, I can’t help thinking that anyone who’s ever been in love or lost in love will know exactly what she means. To be able to capture that and also write about John Brown and “Bleeding Kansas,” among other topics…that’s a lot of talent, not to mention that she’s a terrific singer (as is her sister) and an excellent bass player.
But I got that record in 1998 (the official release was early 1999). That’s seven years ago. Since then, the band was dropped by their major label (to no one’s surprise), released one decidedly less impressive follow-up, played Twangfest again (I dealt with Deborah for most of the booking details, and wasn’t too awestruck to talk to her–just her sister), and mostly stayed around Austin and played lots of shows at the Continental Club and the like. (If you check their Website, it’s up-to-date, but there’s one “tour” date listed: the Continental Club, last Friday.) And I can’t help wondering if they got fed up with trying to be a touring band, or if the Austin slacker disease–you know, “yeah, we make some money playing local shows, and our day jobs help pay the rent, and we’re content with that”–got to them as it has to so many other bands…or what. If they are content to be just sort of a local band, in a town where there are lots of bands in the same position, that’s their choice, of course, and best wishes to them. (I mean that sincerely, not sarcastically; it’s a mug’s game at best, trying to be a successful or even subsistence-level band, and I can’t fault anyone who decides they don’t want to play along.) But I can’t help but wonder, and feel saddened at the thought of all that talent floating around out there and not reaching my ears or the ears of the, I dunno, hundreds? of other people who, for a while at least, felt the way I did about them.
(There’s eventually going to be a vol. 2 of “What the Hell Happened?”, about the great Cheri Knight, except that I actually know what happened to her, pretty much; I just have trouble accepting the fact that a record I still listen to constantly–her second album, The Northeast Kingdom–came out seven friggin’ years ago and will probably never be followed up. But that’s a story for another day.)
*The iPod has a name now, in keeping with the overall theme of my domain name: it’s the LynxPod, and will hereafter be referred to as such. I don’t always name my inanimate objects–cars usually, guitars sometimes, bicycles always, mandolins never, and everything else rarely–but I talk about this particular inanimate object so much that it seemed to warrant naming.
**For the sake of accuracy and the love of nitpickery, I should note that the version of the album that I put on the LynxPod is an advance that predated the official release by six months or more. The commercially released version was remastered and slightly resequenced, and one or two of the songs were completely re-recorded (two, if I remember correctly: the title track and “Unholy Train,” but I could be wrong since my memory is just a giant sieve). It’s hard for me to listen to it objectively because I was so used to the advance, but being as objective as I can, I think the commercial version is inferior to the advance…but it’s still a great record.