Taylor Hicks ~ "The Fall"

“It’s funny how my life changes with the snow…”

Someone told me once:

“It’s sad when you can’t marry your first love.”

I was 19, in college, and had met my first love.

No, I didn’t marry him. He was climbing the ladder…

You can’t know Taylor Hicks music without knowing “The Fall.”

It’s the other end of Jam Cruise 9 music; it counters “Badge.” It will grab you. It is what I call “pure Taylor voice” as we also hear on “Indiscriminate Act of Kindness” and “Maybe You Should.” It balances the repertoire.

If there is a song that Taylor Hicks has written or performs that seems to come from deep inside him, it is “The Fall.”

He wrote it when he was 19, and the very popular concert encore was only the third song he had ever written. He talked about it in the interview segment in his first music DVD, “Whomp at the Warfield” released in 2009:

“After a breakup…you know, I think it is one of the better songs that I’ve written. It just kind of fell together… it’s kind of John Prine meets Lowell George.

“That song still has some evolving left…I think it has some more growth as far as the song. I haven’t been able to produce the song as much as I wanted to, so I’m kind of looking forward to some of the older music and produce it the way that I want to…

“My opinion is you want to take as much time as you can on the art to make it right….I’m pretty excited about some of the older material on the first album, In Your Time, [to] let them grow and let them breathe again.”

“The Fall” is an emotional story of seemingly many goodbyes, games, separation, and, as one climbs the ladder, breakup.

In his introduction at one venue he gave a knowing grin to the audience and said “heartbreak…chick…you know…”


Do we ever look at what we do as reflected in someone else…the falls they take?

“The Fall”
By Taylor Hicks

It's funny how my life changes with the snow
takes a long, hard solid state of gold
all the times I look it still occurs to me
just passing time, trying not to mind, set my spirit free

There's a place and time for everything
when the good gets going bad
and every time I try to look and hide
it leaves you lonely, feeling blue, and feeling sad

Here it comes, just rushing in
the distant smile replied,
a distant grin

It's not so bad after all

I climbed the ladder,
and you took the fall

you took the fall

Light on my feet I'm walking down
my steps are heavier to lessening frown
soon I'll be gone so pay me no mind
there's always the worries wasting time, and wasted wine

Here it comes just rushing in
the distant smile replied,
a distant grin

It's not so bad after all

I climbed the ladder,
and you took the fall

You took the fall

Feelings will pass and soon have to go
the colder the heart, the harder the wind blow
although you're trying to make your own throughway
you turn your back on love with the games that people play

Here it comes just rushing in
the distant smile replied,
a distant grin

it's not so bad after all

I climbed the ladder,
and you took the fall

you took the fall


“The Fall” is poetry first with images and emotions in black and white and grays before there are Taylor vocals and acoustic guitar. Even notes add images as they “tumble” down on “faaaall.”
This is Taylor most vulnerable…he closes his eyes in much of the song. Whether or not he is reliving the hurt of the words as they were when he was 19, he is expressing the hurt of words like this at any time.

There's a place and time for everything
when the good gets going bad

“When the good gets going bad”… Remember the hurt at 19?

“Here is comes just rushing in …”

reminds me of the emotional repeating line in “Gran Torino”: “Beats the lonely rhythm all night long,” as the essence and emotions of the song flood over you.

I have watched many performances of “The Fall.” As Taylor said, it is a song that has evolving and growth coming. I wonder if it is “the” song that, with Taylor’s “evolving, growth, and production,” will become his breakout signature song.

It would be a beautiful legacy.

If I could take only one piece of Taylor Hicks’ music to wrap up and hold close, it would be “The Fall.”

We move on, but we never forget love at 19!

For love that was, love that is, and love forever...

Happy Valentine’s Day!

~~~

Blogger’s Note:

I love words. “The Fall” is one of the most intricate and beautiful collaboration of words I have seen. I find myself comparing this stunning poetry to “February Song” by Josh Groban—both beautiful and a little mysterious. It is not for the listener to know the exact story behind the words.

To see “The Fall” in “Whomp at the Warfield” again, I watched all of the DVD and remembered again why I am here—the incredible music and amazing show that this man shares every time he takes the stage. The 2007 Modern Whomp Solo Tour was another magical time when a very slim Taylor was on an exhausting big tour high with 5-6 shows a week. It paid off—that was the 27th biggest grossing tour of the YEAR and there were MANY tours on the road that year.

For those who were around then and before, I know this is repetitious. For those who have joined the Taylor journey in the past year or two, I hope you enjoy some of these times that have taken Taylor to where he is today. Incidentally, you can hear Taylor’s “It shall be called ‘whomp’” definition of his music in “Whomp at the Warfield—the Interview.” And you can see “The Fall” and “The Badge” side by side!

Talk about juxtaposition!

Final reflection….if you haven’t gotten your Valentine’s Day present…or you deserve another… “Whomp at the Warfield” is at Amazon…

just sayin’

~~
Photo by RagsQueen via TMOMedia: Taylor Hicks at Bay Shore, NY, September, 2010.

“The Fall” from the 2010 Summer Tour in Bay Shore, NY by MissMeerkar: