This week's song comes from Sue Harding:
When I began to write songs for the Angel Ridge project, it was like beginning again in a whole new genre. Things that started out as 'sampler' pieces as I tentatively began to explore the conventions of Americana folk turned out better than expected and I piled on the conventions both musically and lyrically just to see what would happen.
I am not an American and despite a shared folk heritage, this is not my tradition. I'm a complete fake. My perceptions of the American West are informed by the Cowboy films my dad watched on TV.
Later when the music got me, anything from Blue Grass to Gospel to Rock and Roll, I created my own Wild West which became a place where anything could happen: a place for pioneers of all kinds and a perfect back drop for the human drama. I peopled this imaginary landscape with characters drawn unashamedly from a cast of stereotypes and cliches. What I want is for the the story telling which drives these songs to have emotional integrity and to resonate with a contemporary listener.
The Cow girl's love song is celebratory even if there is no happy ending. Unlike so many traditional folk songs where the abandoned girl is a helpless victim, the cowgirl in my song embraces her experience. In my imaginary west, the figure of the cowgirl has feminist overtones. I suspect that the historical truth is far from that, but for me in this song she is a fully functional human being in control of her own sexual and emotional destiny and a true pioneer.
I am not an American and despite a shared folk heritage, this is not my tradition. I'm a complete fake. My perceptions of the American West are informed by the Cowboy films my dad watched on TV.
Later when the music got me, anything from Blue Grass to Gospel to Rock and Roll, I created my own Wild West which became a place where anything could happen: a place for pioneers of all kinds and a perfect back drop for the human drama. I peopled this imaginary landscape with characters drawn unashamedly from a cast of stereotypes and cliches. What I want is for the the story telling which drives these songs to have emotional integrity and to resonate with a contemporary listener.
The Cow girl's love song is celebratory even if there is no happy ending. Unlike so many traditional folk songs where the abandoned girl is a helpless victim, the cowgirl in my song embraces her experience. In my imaginary west, the figure of the cowgirl has feminist overtones. I suspect that the historical truth is far from that, but for me in this song she is a fully functional human being in control of her own sexual and emotional destiny and a true pioneer.
Sue
When Johnny said meet me
Where the creek gives the rise
He’d a slide to his hips
And fire in his eyes
I’m glad he remembered my name
It’s his wild words that won me
When he said I’d be dressed
In stars and the night
I thought I’d been blessed
I'm not looking for someone to blame
Where you been Johnny Slim
Where you been?
Blown with the wind
Johnny Slim
Till the next time we meet
Oh the memory’s sweet
You know you won’t stay very long
If he stole those sweet words
Well he never took nothing from me
When I’m with my Johnny
I'm free like a bee
I know he’ll go South all the same
But one night with Johnny
Sweet flowers hung on the breeze
I soaked up his songs
'Neath the sycamore tree
My happy heart a flickering flame
Where you been Johnny Slim
Where you been?
Flown with the birds
Johnny Slim
Till the next time we meet
Oh the memory’s sweet
You know you won’t stay very long
In the light all his fine words
Were gone but I swear
Love stuck in his throat
Like a long lost prayer
Adrift on the air as he whispered my name
Where you been Johnny Slim
Where you been?
Gone with the wind
Johnny Slim
Till the next time we meet
Oh the memory’s sweet
You know you won’t stay very long
Where the creek gives the rise
He’d a slide to his hips
And fire in his eyes
I’m glad he remembered my name
It’s his wild words that won me
When he said I’d be dressed
In stars and the night
I thought I’d been blessed
I'm not looking for someone to blame
Where you been Johnny Slim
Where you been?
Blown with the wind
Johnny Slim
Till the next time we meet
Oh the memory’s sweet
You know you won’t stay very long
If he stole those sweet words
Well he never took nothing from me
When I’m with my Johnny
I'm free like a bee
I know he’ll go South all the same
But one night with Johnny
Sweet flowers hung on the breeze
I soaked up his songs
'Neath the sycamore tree
My happy heart a flickering flame
Where you been Johnny Slim
Where you been?
Flown with the birds
Johnny Slim
Till the next time we meet
Oh the memory’s sweet
You know you won’t stay very long
In the light all his fine words
Were gone but I swear
Love stuck in his throat
Like a long lost prayer
Adrift on the air as he whispered my name
Where you been Johnny Slim
Where you been?
Gone with the wind
Johnny Slim
Till the next time we meet
Oh the memory’s sweet
You know you won’t stay very long
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