Listening to the dvd “Neil Young Heart of Gold“ (directed by Jonathan Demme, 2006), a few nights ago, reminded me yet again that I love a simple, well-crafted song. Neil’s rendition of Ian Tyson’s classic folk song Four Strong Winds was especially moving for me. [see the lyrics of “Four Strong Winds” here] Once again, I wish I had listened to my heart and not gone blindly into law school 33 years ago. [Yes, I learned personally the folly of failing to self-assess before committing to a life in the law.] Instead, I ignored the repeated signals that writing a good lyric was far more important to me than writing a good brief.
“Four Strong Winds” inspired me to collect about one hundred haiku about wind, by two dozen of f/k/a’s Honored Guest Poets. You can find them here — haiku on the wind.
maple seeds spiraling —
cicada husk holds on
to the old swing rope
funeral procession . . .
snowflakes blowing
into the headlights
the pinwheel stops
grandpa catches
his breath
snowblind on the range:
homesteader feels
the barbwire home
Randy Brooks from School’s Out (Press Here, 1999) 
“funeral procession” – Henderson Haiku Award, HSA 1998
Funnily enough, I had something of a Neil Young flashback last week. as well. I hearing “Out on the Weekend” from Comes a Time on the Bob Harris Country show on BBC Radio 2 while driving to France and it took me back to my own childhood – Comes a Time was the first LP I bought, aged 13. And as I recall, Four Strong Winds is on that record – it’s the best national anthem Canada never had.
Comment by matt — September 19, 2006 @ 4:22 pm
Hi David – seeing as you correctly pointed out that it was 1978 Comes a Time came out, that actually meant I was 16 when I bought it, but what the hey.
My first single was “Thing Called Love” by Johnny Cash – great artist, but possibly not his best recorded moment.
Have you heard any Bonny Prince Billy? – am listening to his current CD “The Letting Go” at present, which is excellent.
And will check out the crack on the Caroline H release date.
My best, Matt
Comment by matt — September 24, 2006 @ 4:55 pm
Hi, Matt. I just checked out the lyrics to Johny Cash’s “Thing Called Love,” and am eager to agree that it is NOT one of his best songs. Just might have to call you Matt Maudlin.
As I’ve written before, I do very little listening to new music [Neil Young’s “Living With War” being a recent exception]. Therefore, I have not heard any Bonny Price Billy — until, serendipitously, there was a segment this afternoon on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered Show”. — see “The Bonnie Prince, on Screen and in Your Head” at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6140845, and the song “No Bad News,” presented at All Songs Considered — http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/archives/asc119/#billy .
npr called Bonny Bill Oldham an overlooked icon. How can you be both overlooked and an icon? Just last week, I was thinking that “icon” is being used far too often these days. It may nudge out “hero.”
thanks for stopping by regularly, Mr. Morden.
Comment by David Giacalone — September 26, 2006 @ 12:00 am