This Shirt

[judecorp]

Wow. That was such a beautiful concert. I'd never really heard much Mary Chapin Carpenter before, and I'd never even heard of Patty Griffin, but they were all so wonderful. The place was packed and I think everyone was in awe. They were all having such a good time with each other. That's what really makes a concert for me - when the performers are really enjoying themselves.

The only thing that would have been better is if we'd been able to have dinner with Dar before the show. But we /did/ get to eat in the presence of elspazz0. (p.s. Sarah, we got that CAPA program for you, and "Fame" is showing October 31st and November 1st.) Watching Dar on stage has got to be one of my most favorite things in the whole entire world (the way she tells little stories is just so adorable). If only khaosworks had been able to see her for her birthday. (But at least he got a phone call from me!)

This shirt is old and faded
All the color's washed away
I've had it now for more damn years
Than I can count anyway
I wear it beneath my jacket
With the collar turned up high
So old I should replace it
But I'm not about to try

This shirt's got silver buttons
And a place upon the sleeve
Where I used to set my heart up
Right where anyone could see
This shirt is the one I wore to every boring high school dance
Where the boys ignored the girls
And we all pretended to like the bands

This shirt was a pillow for my head
On a train through Italy
This shirt was a blanket beneath the love
We made in Argeles
This shirt was lost for three whole days
In a town near Buffalo
'Till I found the locker key
In a downtown Trailways bus depot

This shirt was the one I lent you
And when you gave it back
There was a rip inside the sleeve
Where you rolled your cigarettes
It was the place I put my heart
Now look at where you put a tear
I forgave your thoughtlessness
But not the boy who put it there

This shirt was the place your cat
Decided to give birth to five
And we stayed up all night watching
And we wept when the last one died
This shirt is just an old faded piece of cotton
Shining like the memories
Inside those silver buttons

This shirt is a grand old relic
With a grand old history
I wear it now for Sunday chores
Cleaning house and raking leaves
I wear it beneath my jacket
With the collar turned up high
So old I should replace it
But I'm not about to try

Mary Chapin Carpenter played a song of hers called "This Shirt" as her second selection. I'd never heard it before (actually, I can't think of a single Chapin song) but I was completely captivated by it. The idea of a treasured piece of cloth has long been my favorite analogy for successful love, and as I was drawn into the song, my mind began drifting to future times, to future fond rememberances of the song. One of the techniques I tried to hone while learning how to do successful therapy is to free my mind while I'm listening to someone and pay close attention to the images that pop into my head. My mind wandered to a place where Chapin's old shirt was synonymous with Jennifer, and by the end of the song, I realized my eyes were damp behind my glasses. It's so rare that my eyes water that I was a bit taken aback. Now, though, I think I need an mp3 of that song. Do any of you folkies happen to have it (or know someone who does)?

In other folkish news, I can't wait to put Karrie's mix CDs in my car tomorrow. It will make the drive to work so much better!

Right this minute, my sentimental mind misses Jodie, and that "take care of my fiddle, son" song that she used to really love. Play every day just like your playing days are through.

I think my next Columbus goal is to sing with the Columbus Women's Chorus.

Comments

[siercia]

I've got it. I'll send it to you =)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Oooh, awesome! Can you send it to my columbus.rr.com address? It's best for sending big files.

You rock!

I love that song!

[cathboblet.livejournal.com]

I first heard "This Shirt" when I was in college, and immediately knew that I had "my shirt" hanging in my wardrobe already. My shirt, despite being a fairly new acquisition, was already old and faded with the color washed away -- a checked, oversized shirt in shades of red that were dusky and burnished rather than brash and raw.

I still have that shirt, and it's traveled with me to so many places. It came to the States with me, making the cut to be one of the few items pushed into the single, oversized backpack that held all my worldly goods when I upped and moved continents. It's the shirt I threw in my bag when I knew I'd need a cover-up once I stepped inside a chilly library or archives, and it's been a pillow for my head -- although not through Italy. It used to be the shirt I wore to make a good impression . . . but now it's older, even more faded, and I wear it on Sunday mornings when I'm running out for coffee and a paper. It feels like a hug, like the material equivalent of comfort.

I wear it less and less as time goes on, but I could never throw it away. It's a reminder of too many things, too many places, too many people. And now it's a reminder of you too =).

Re: I love that song!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

When I was in high school, I distinctly had "this shirt." Of course, over time, the poor thing just plain wore out, and I eventually had to toss it. But more than "this shirt," I had "these pants."

I had a pair of jeans that I would have worn every day if I could. They were so comfortable and fit so well that I wore them almost non-stop through high school and college. When I was in my first grad program in Boston, they started fraying on one knee, and that fray eventually became a little hole. One day, I got that hole caught on my bed post and it became a big rip. I wore them anyway, my knee sticking through.

Eventually, the rip became too big and my knee got cold and uncomfortable, so I cut "these pants" into shorts. I wore them and wore them, up until 2000, when I became too fat for them.

I finally gave the cut-off shorts to Goodwill when I moved in June. I didn't fit into them for 3 years - it was time to pass them on.

my shirt memory...

[mythicalbeast.livejournal.com]

Look at the things you can find on the internet even if you only recall the first line... :)

I'VE HAD THIS SHIRT

I've had this shirt that's covered in dirt for years and years and years. It used to be red but Iwore it in bed and it went gray cos I wore it all day for years and years and years. The arms fell off in the Monday wash and you can see my vest through the holes in the chest for years and years and years. As my shirt falls apart I'll keep the bits in a biscuit tin on the mantelpiece for years and years and years.

By MICHAEL ROSEN

Re: my shirt memory...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You make me laugh. That "poem" is pretty funny. Biscuit tin!

[hope-persists.livejournal.com]

I am so very jealous. I'm glad it was a good show :) Patty Griffin is TOTALLY amazing- I'm surprised you didn't know her. Her newest cd is a live cd with a free dvd in it. I haven't heard it yet, but a lot of the songs on it are really good. But my favorite song of hers, Making Pies, is on her last cd (1000 Kisses).

It's not far
I can walk
Down the block
To TableTalk
Close my eyes
Make the pies all day

Plastic cap
On my hair
I used to mind
Now I don't care
I used to mind
Now I don't care
Cause I'm gray

Did I show you this picture of my nephew
Taken at his big birthday surprise
At my sister's house last Sunday
This is Monday and I'm making pies
I'm making pies
Making pies
Pies

Thursday nights
I go and type
Down at the church
For Father Mike
It gets me out
And he ain't hard to like
At all

Jesus stares at me
In my chair
With his big blue eyes
And his honey brown hair
And he's looking at me
Way up there
On the wall

Did I show you this picture of my sweetheart
Taken of us before the war
Of the Greek and his Italian girl
One Sunday at the shore

We tied our ribbons to the fire escape
They were taken by the birds
Who flew home to the country
As the bombs rained on the world

5am
Here I am
Walking the block
To TableTalk
You could cry or die
Or just make pies all day
I'm making pies
Making pies
Making pies
Making pies

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

She was really, really awesome. I have no idea why I haven't heard of her, except that I admit that I don't seek out new music very often because I already like too many things!

But she has an absolutely AMAZING voice. I [heart] her. And that song sounds fantastic - was she born in the Northeast? I didn't know they had Table Talk pies anywhere else.

[hope-persists.livejournal.com]

hmmm I'm not sure where she's from. Maine, I think. Yeah, if you do any downloading or such, you should seek out that song, and the song Rain. They are amazing. My favorite line in Making Pies is You could cry or dies, or just make pies all day. I'm making pies. That just so perfectly describes pushing past the depression to continue your life to me. I almost always cry when I hear that song. And Rain is all about depression and has lines like I'm still alive underneath this shroud. Songs about depression and hope really move me.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Oh, right, MAINE. She did say that some time during the concert. I remember now. That would explain the Table Talk pies. (Of course, Maine is an odious place to live, it's no wonder she lives in Texas now.)

I know what you mean about songs about certain issues getting to you. Whenever I hear a song about children and their parents (especially fathers), I get completely stuck on them.

People kept shouting for Dar to play "After All," but she didn't. If she had, I would /definitely/ have thought of you more.

[hope-persists.livejournal.com]

hehe awww. The Nields have a new album coming out in January. On it will be a song called "The Day I Let Glory Steer" which is about a dad and his teenage daughter. Nerissa (the songwriter of the duo) was at a Dar show and saw this dad and his teenage daughter. She wondered whether he waws there humoring him, or he was there humoring her, or whether just maybe, folk music was the thing that they could both relate to each other on. It is an amazing, amazing song. Keep an eye out for it!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I will keep my little eyes peeled!

[poopsmoothie.livejournal.com]

I've been a Mary Chapin Carpenter fan since I was tiny. She's fucking AMAZING. I wish she and Dar were coming here.

I've crossed lines of words and wire and both have cut me deep
I've been frozen out and I've been on fire and the tears are mine to weep
Now I can cry until I laugh and laugh until I cry
So cut the deck right in half, I'll play from either side

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

She was really good, too.

I don't know if I'd go to a solo Mary Chapin Carpenter show, but the mix of the four of them, and their camaraderie, were so wonderful to watch. It was an incredible show.

[transientdyke.livejournal.com]

Marisa just introduced me to Patty Griffin about a month ago and I absolutely love her, not sure why I hadn't heard of her before that.

Which isn't entirely true, because I knew she existed - she's actually written a couple songs for the Dixie Chicks. And, ironically enough, she opened for them when I saw them on tour... but I was so far away and not paying attention that I don't remember anything from her performance and I'm totally kicking myself now.

Currently, my favorite song by her is "Every Little Bit" off of her Living With Ghosts album - the whole CD is great if you have a chance to check it out. I actually saw that you were going to that concert and played with the idea of driving out there myself, but it was a bit too far. Damn this distance.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I think one of the reasons I've never heard of her is that she's definitely fringe country (if not totally country) and I don't really ever come into contact with country. But she has an amazing voice, I'll give her that!

Shawn Colvin is fringe country, too... and I do have one of her old albums (Fat City). I just love her voice, the way it can go from gravelly to dreamy. mmmm. I needs me a girl that sings to me.

Maybe I will take some Patty Griffin albums out of the public library to test them out.

[rizzo41.livejournal.com]

Take care of my fiddle? What in heavens are you talking about?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Dude, I could have sworn it was you. It was some country song sung by that guy (and those guns), and it was all sentimental and you would play it ALL THE TIME when we were freshmen.

[rizzo41.livejournal.com]

Oooo! Ok... verrrrry very vaguely remembering this song now. What the hell was that? I used to love that song. I even kinda remember the video. Was that Sawyer Brown? Now it's gonna bug me... I think it was by the same guy who played fiddle on "Devil Came Back to Georgia". Time to slueth..

[rizzo41.livejournal.com]

"Now it Belongs to You" by Mark O'Connor. Dear god, how I miss that song. I'd been trying to think of the name of it for quite some time now. Thanks for jogging my memory! (Well, actually I visited about 112 websites before finding it listed, but you know). Now if only I could get a download of it...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

See, I /told/ you there was a fiddle song!!

NEENER!

[rizzo41.livejournal.com]

Take good care of my fiddle, Son, cause it's yours from now on. Keep it in the family after I am gone. Play every song just like your playing days are through. Take good care of my fiddle, son, now it belongs to you.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You're trying to get that song into my head, you slimy twat, and by god, it's working.

SEETHE.

[rizzo41.livejournal.com]

HA HA HA HA!

Neener neener neener! That's all I know of it, though. It's the only 30 seconds of it on the sample. I really need a full download of it, now.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Serves you right!

you don't know me, but...

[hca.livejournal.com]

I'm a friend of pantsie's, and I was wandering through her friends page, and found this.

And I went to this concert when they were in Boston. Mary Chapin and Dar on the same stage, swoon. I'm a big lyrics fan, and Mary Chapin's get me every.time. I don't even like country, but I like her country stuff. I love her folk stuff. She was my favorite artist until I discovered Dar, and now it depends on the day. :)

And the four of them together on the one stage was just amazing fun. Did they do "I Want It That Way" (yes, the Backstreet Boys' song) as an encore for you too?

Re: you don't know me, but...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

YES! They /did/ sing "I Want It That Way" and I laughed so hard! (But in the end, I had to admit they made the song really great!)

Dar is my favorite true folkie, but I have to be loyal to the Indigo Girls, since I've loved them since I was 14. They're not really REALLY folkies, though, so I have a little slack.