Four decades of fingerpicking guitar and scrugg's banjo and feel like a kid again, jazzed hearing some of best acoustic music as is this piece. I am sure John refined this piece as time went on, whatever age it began. I believe, easily, he did this as a teenager. I too have a couple of pieces like that and now, even some of the best players at workshops will stop and wonder. You had hours of the day to be with your strings because you just had to. Returning to the guitar more now after ten years of scrugg's hard work [and it is hard guy,s but worth it if you want it] it really is a new world to have videos available lightning fast, ten songs in less than an hour. To hear these works of so many players; M J Hurt, Rev Gary Davis, Taj Mahal etc. took months, years or not at all by mail, or hanging with jam joints. I have learned Poor Boy' early John just in the last two months, listening and watching his chord forms in open D. Music is not sport. It is art. Now, to be able to gain, borrow [someone ask's where that come from tell 'em or it's stealin'}. If I can maintain a" jazzed kid again" outlook the next ten years I'be quite satisfied, long comment, just sayin'...
I got hold of the tablature for this song and discovered that the open tuning in "G" actually makes this fairly simple to play. But I never played it this well, or with this amount of soul. Man, what a composer and performer he was!
I have many of his recordings from the early 70's and this rendition seems very rushed. Much hastier than the earlier version that I listened to for hours on end...
I miss you, John.
fahey claims he wrote this at the age of 14. i wonder if this is revised /improved upon as he progressed as a player. at least i hope it is, otherwise im doomed
every time i listen to this alien being emit his note hoard, i become engorged with currents upon currents of heavy feeling.Not a sadness really. Not bleakness. Not emptiness. More alike some odd fullness, or completeness, to which i feel something of a stranger to myself. Attaining such fullness, i know the feeling of completion and totality, at which moment i am certain beyond the bounds of thought, that now, that at this time i am freed of some NEED to live, rather, it is a lovely time, as lovely as those notes, to die. .. to die with beauty and without regret of a thing missed. rip john 2001
In 1973 one Houston’s rock stations would play Peter Lang’s, “Future Shot at the Rainbow.” I quickly bought the LP that featured that song (it was on Takoma Records). Later I bought Takoma’s, “Lang, Fahey, and Kottke,” with 4 songs by each artist. I bought it because of Lang but found myself only listening to Mr Fahey’s - they just seemed to have more gravity and seriousness. I sought out many of his records. Years later - I think in ‘86 - I got to see him at Anderson Fair. Strange to see his hulking presence. Fair owner, Tim Leatherwood, would bring out pitcher after pitcher of what looked to be Coca Cola. I’m sure now it was more likely bourbon and coke. The man obviously needed lots of fuel to keep going - whatever it was. What a thrill - and honor - to see him. Rest his soul.
It's a Martin D-35. You can tell it's a D-35 and not a D-28 because the fingerboard's bound in white. If he flipped it around you'd see that gorgeous three-piece rosewood back.
Like another of my favorite guitarists, John Cipollina, Faheny's technique is all about the right hand. Brilliant unorthodox playing, and that doesn't even take into account his rich musical vocabulary and incredible sense of timing.
See the strip of wood behind his chair? Reminds me of when he came to Bellingham, WA to play at Western Washington State College (now WWU) in '72 or '73. Two bandmates & I were asked by the Student A&E director to play some acoustic 'warm-up' tunes if John felt like he wanted to loosen up backstage for a longer period. 'Loosening up' for John was simply checking the tuning on his guitar and applying Jack Daniels liberally to get that mellow effect. We got to share the bottle with him and then it was "Yeah, let's do it". The stage in the Viking Union hall was a 4' riser against the back wall and curtain and John was set up with a mike and chair. Since we'd been backstage with him, we had great views from immediate stage right. Part way through his set, he was really in to one of his long compositions and we could see that his chair was slowly 'walking' back toward the wall. He got right to the edge of the riser and the back legs dropped into the void behind. Why we didn't react quicker is still unclear to me (Jack Daniels Syndrome?) but we got him upright and way forward on the stage and he carried on as if nothing untoward had happened. He may have struggled with some demons in life, but what wonderful music he created. Just glad I got to share a little time with him.
