OK, the internet as a whole is … not without its problems. BUT what a treasury it offers for the obscure, and especially YouTube, where anyone can post up anything that they happen across, and there’s a reasonable chance it’ll stay there for perpetuity. Or until the Cloud goes up in smoke, anyway.
Hmph. Anyway, today I was reflecting on Blaze Foley. one of the most obscure singer-songwriters who nonetheless has some significant claims to fame – being the subject of ‘Drunken Angel’ on Lucinda Williams’ deathless classic album “Car Wheels on a Gravel Track”; and having written not one but two of the finest songs in the Americana songbook. ‘If I Could Only Fly’, the heart -rending ballad which provided the title track for one of Merle Haggard’s finest late period albums; and then there’s this one, just a delightful ode to the simplest of pleasures. John Prine covered it on his “Fair & Square” album, which is where this writer first heard it – and to be honest, I just always thought it was a Prine song, the easy charm and wit and picking style. But no, it’s Foley who created this gem, and thanks to YouTube we have a gorgeous little front porch clip of him singing it.
