For The Sake Of The Song: Over The Rhine “Latter Days”

I’ve talked about Over The Rhine before, often, but they’ve accompanied me on the life journey for over 20 years now. They have written several songs that have resonated for me at different times, but none that have sat for so long or stand higher than ‘Latter Days.’

Linford Detweiler says that ‘Latter Days’ came from “one of those periods where I felt like I was done with music, that I didn’t have what it took. So, the whole bit about ‘dancing without me’ is to other musicians… ‘You go on ahead and do it. I’ll get there eventually, and I’ll be okay’.” But as with many of their songs the listener can interpret it to suit themselves.

In my case it arrived in about 2005 when I was having a particularly tough time and was in a place where I felt isolated and unseen by pretty much everyone around me. Hearing the line “There is a me you would not recognise, dear. Call it the shadow of myself,” flicked a switch in me. Despite the sadness of the song, having the fact that there was a me who despite being unrecognised externally was present and actually doing fine. As the last line of the chorus says “I really think I’ll be o.k. They’ve taken their toll these latter days.” It was after all OK to not be OK, long before that phrase came to be trotted out regularly as part of mental health virtue signalling. As Detweiler said of the song. “To me, there’s something about that sadness that is ultimately joyful.” And he’s right.

If ever there was a song that proved to me the redemptive power of music, this was it. The hymn-like quality of the stately piano which is at the core of the music, with Norman Johns’ cello and Ric Hordinski’s Ebow guitar filling out the sound behind Karin Bergquist’s peerless vocal. For a song that came from doubt about the writer’s ability to offer anymore, it delivers the highest level of emotional songwriting possible.

‘Latter Days’ appeared first on ‘Good Dog Bad Dog’ in 1966 and was reissued in 2000 when it was picked up by Virgin’s Back Porch imprint. There have been a couple of live versions released on their “Live From Nowhere” series from 2007 and 2008. These lack the extended piano improvisation which Linford Detweiler has often added to the introduction of the song. When I finally got to see them play it live in 2017 it was inevitably a set highlight. They have run songwriting retreats in Northern Ireland last year and this, but seem to have abandoned playing UK shows other than that, at least for now. So, the prospect of hearing this beautiful song played live again is unlikely. Which means I’ll have to settle for wrapping myself up in the comfort blanket of the record and remind myself that it will, despite the state of the world, really be OK.

The original album version…

And a live take from 2003, a highpoint of Over The Rhine’s live career. There is a recording online of their shows with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra in 2009, but the are poor quality, and honestly the orchestra detract rather than add to the song, by simply filling it up with too big an arrangement.