James

A few years ago, a donation to my local folk music radio station earned me the "Live At The World Cafe - 10th Anniversary" CD. From the get-go, those two discs lived pretty permanently in two of my five CD slots in the car (this was in my pre-iPod days). It's full of great stuff, some that I already knew (e.g., Nanci Griffith) and some that I'd never heard of (e..g, Olu Dara). I urge you to check it out. Richard Thompson's "Beeswing" and Lucinda Williams' "Can't Let Go" are worth the price of admission right there. But the greatest pleasure I have gotten from this CD was "James" by Huffamoose. This has become one of my favorite songs of all time. It is incredibly romantic. The lyrics are below; you can also visit the Huffamoose site and even watch a trailer for the Huffamoose movie. I've downloaded every version of "James" I can find and I never tire of it. It's perfect. Here goes:

We're headed for the Great Smoky Mountains to see the wildflowers bloom in spring.
'Cause we've decided that there's no better place to be for two young people who just wanna do their thing in the spring.
I know we're gonna be happy
'Cause James is a freedom fighter and he lives for the moment.
His parents are hippies and he sees everything through a rainbow.
He's never unhappy 'cause he never wears a watch.
He lives on his mountain bike and he sees beauty in everyone.

Chorus:
And James says he's gonna change the world.
And James says that I am his flower girl.
And James and I we're gonna make a difference.
Just wait and see.
We're gonna set the world free.

It's two years later now and we're both out of college and we've decided to love one another for eternity.
I've got a good job but James says no one understands him.
He's an artist and he needs time to find out what that means.

[chorus]

He answers to a higher calling -  the moon and the sun and the stars are falling through his time and his space and I am lucky to be part of it all.
He is bigger than life.
He sees things, he knows things, he is not like you and me.

[chorus]

James finally found a steady job and now we're gonna settle down.
He still loves his music but he knows where his priorities lie.
He stepped on his dreams so many times and wore out the path he needed to take to find the life he thought would just happen to him like the changing of a season.

Comments

[Jellyfish]

Thanks for your reference on that wonderful song "James". I first heard it on our radio station at Burning Man this year and it really struck me. Being a straight guy it was a good place to hear a guy singing about a guy and be in a place where I was open minded enough to really appreciate it. I found your article because I typed the lyrics I remembered into a Google search and your article came up so then I could buy it on Itunes and I'm finally hearing it again right now. Thanks a bunch!

Cheers!

[Jellyfish]

P.S. You have no idea how important to me "Beeswing" by Ricard Thompson is. "She was a rare thing..." indeed.

[Karen]

In fact, somewhere I read an interview that said that it's meant to describe a straight romance -- he's just singing the part of the girl. He even expressed surprise that people took it as a gay song! (Well, duh!)

Regardless, it's an absolutely gorgeous song.

[Karen]

I adore "Beeswing," and also "1952 Vincent Black Lighting" -- whereas most other RT stuff I can just take or leave.