Life Is Short, And Here’s The Dang Thing About It
By Mitch Berg
Kouba writes about yet another mutual favorite of ours, John Hiatt:
John Hiatt is a true musician, and an accomplished songwriter whose songs have been covered by many of the biggest names in the business. Like John Mellencamp, who is about the same age, Hiatt is from Indiana, and has had his share of hard knocks.
Hiatt is indeed an amazing singer and writer. I first discovered him with “Slow Turning”, his big comeback after kicking booze in the late eighties. It’s a paradox of rock and roll – or maybe a metaphor for it – that some of the best artists’ best, most creative years come when they’re the most bent; Pete Townsend, Warren Zevon and a long list of others top the list of artists whose best material happened when they were partying like it was 1999.
Hiatt went against that grain, and thankfully so; his best years were still ahead of him when he put down the bottle.
He stayed dedicated to his craft, and I think it’s one of the Laws of the Universe that if you shower something with love for long enough, something beautiful is guaranteed to grow.
Which, like “the best way to become wealthy/in love/happy is to appear as if you already are”, is some of the best advice in life.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Oh, no. I have at least one more thing in common with Berg and Kouba!
I’m older than you guys, so I “first” discovered Hiatt when I almost pulled off the road upon hearing “Motorboat to Heaven” driving through Fridley, but missed whose song it was.
Try tracking down an obscure indie talent’s first album in pre-Internet days. But I did. And he kept getting better.
January 20th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I play in two local bands, both of which cover Hiatt songs, one of them more acoustic and the other the harder stuff….
I can say this unequivocally: “Paper Thin” (especially the live version on “Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan?”), and I really don’t know how to say this without reverting to 14 years-of-age, is the flat-out best Rock-N-Roll kick-fn-@ss and take names song… ever. Period.
The way to test this is to put that version of that song on while driving down the freeway. Don’t pay attention to the State Police cars congregating behind you. Keep going, at least until the song ends — it’s on 4m. or so.
Additionally, “Crossing Muddy Waters” is (along with John Prine’s “Fair & Square”) is a “best” must have look at human mortality.