Utah Phillips dead at 73

[skelter]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2008/05/26/5673776-ap.html

[paisley]

am glad his collaboration with Ani Difranco brought him to my attention

rip, thanks for your music

[Blane]

came to know about him from Tom Waits' cover of the Goodnight Loving Trail. "The Golden Voice of the Great Southwest" indeed. RIP.

THE GOODNIGHT-LOVING TRAIL

(Bruce Phillips)

Too old to wrangle or ride on the swing,

You beat the triangle and you curse everything.

If dirt was a kingdom, they you'd be the king.

On the Goodnight Trail, on the Loving Trail,

Our Old Woman's lonesome tonight.

Your French harp blows like the low bawling calf.

It's a wonder the wind don't tear off your skin.

Get in there and blow out the light.

With your snake oil and herbs and your liniments, too,

You can do anything that a doctor can do,

Except find a cure for your own god damned stew

CHORUS

The campfire's gone out and the coffee's all gone,

The boys are all up and they're raising the dawn.

You're still sitting there, lost in a song.

CHORUS

I know that some day I'll be just the same,

Wearing an apron instead of a name.

There's nothing can change it, there's no one to blame

For the desert's a book writ in lizards and sage,

Easy to look like an old torn out page,

Faded and cracked with the colors of age.

CHORUS

[Jay Funk Dawg]

my favorite Utah quote:

"No matter how new age you get, old age is gonna kick your ass!"

[timouse]

or...

"you've gotta be open. If you're not open, life will pry you open."

or...

What is politics? Well, poly means many, and ticks are bloodsucking pests."

or...

"What's the definition of fundamentalist? Go look up fundament in the dictionary."

RIP Utah.