Customer Reviews

The Telling Takes Me Home

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Utah Phillips tells wonderful political and thought provoking stories. His stories and songs have texture, humor, and intelligence. Through his work I get a glimpse of history that I otherwise would never have seen but would have always wanted too. His stories are revolutionary, and he tells them beautifully. I would recomend all of his CD's. His CD's are a gift of working class peoples history to me and to anyone else who has the privilege of listening to them.

Utah Phillips is so good I have bought this CD for a dozen friends over the years and keep a spare copy to play at work. He has a great lived-in voice and his satire is spot on.

This review was originally written as a commentary on Utah Phillip's Songbook- Starlight on the Trial issued in 2005. Looking it over I believe that the comments can be applied to this CD as well, obviously noting the differences in format. Utah has been consistent throughout his career in both the kind of songs he writes and sings about. He has also maintained his same basic political philosophy so my comments about our political differences also apply. Nevertheless, treasure any CD of his you can get your hands on.

The political consciousness developed in my youth coincided with an expansion of my musical tastes under the influence of the great blues and folk revivals of the 1960's. Unfortunately my exposure to the blues greats was mainly on records as many of them had been forgotten, retired or were dead. Not so with the folk revival this was created mainly by those who were close contemporaries. Alas, they too are now mainly forgotten, retired or dead. It therefore is with special pleasure that I review Utah Phillips Songbook while he is very much alive.

Many of the folksingers of the 1960 have attempted to use their music to become troubadours for social change. The most famous example, the early Bob Dylan, can be fairly described as the voice of his generation at that time. However, he fairly quickly moved on to other concepts of himself and his music. Bob Dylan's work became more informed by the influences of Rimbaud and Verlaine and the French Symbolists of the late 1800's and thus moved away to a more urban, sophisticated vision. From the start and consistently throughout his long career Utah has acted as a medium giving voice to the troubles of ordinary people and the simpler ethos of a more rural, Western-oriented gone by day in the American experience. He evokes in song the spirit of the people Walt Whitman paid homage to in poetic form and John Dos Passos and John Steinbeck gave in prose. He sits conformably in that very fast company. Utah Phillips can justly claim the title of a people's troubadour.

A word about politics. Generally, one rates music without reference to politics. However, Utah has introduced the political element by the way he structured the Songbook. Each song is introduced by him as to its significance heavily weighted to his political experiences, observations and vision. Thus, political comment is fairly in play here. Utah is a long time anarchist and unrepentant supporter of the Wobblies (International Workers of the World, hereafter IWW). Every militant cherishes the memory of the class battles led by the IWW like the famous Lawrence strike of 1912 and honors the heroes of those battles like Big Bill Haywood and Vincent St. John and the militants they recruited to the cause of the working class in the first part of the 20th century. They paved the way for the later successful organization drives of the 1930's.

Nevertheless, while Utah and I would both most definitely agree that some old-fashioned class struggle by working people in today's one-sided class war would be a very good thing we as definitely differ on the way to insure a permanent victory for working people in order to create a decent society. In short, Utah's prescriptions of good moral character, increased self-knowledge and the creation of small intentional communities are not enough. Under modern conditions it is necessary to take and safeguard political power against those who would quite consciously deny that victory. History has been cruel in some of the bitter lessons working people have had to endure for not dealing with the question of taking state power to protect their interests. But, enough said. I am more than willing to forgive the old curmudgeon his anarchist sins if he'll sing `I Remember Loving You' the next time he tours the Boston area.

This collection includes most (but not all) of the songs from Utah's old Philo LP "El Capitan," which focused primarily on the Old West, and adds some other similarly themed songs, all written by Mr. Phillips. My only quibble here is that including only songs written by Utah nixed one of the album's best tracks, "Old Dolores."

Oh well. Other than that complaint, this is absolutely great stuff. If you know Utah only by having heard his famous story "Moose Turd Pie," this album would be a great place to dive in and get a fuller picture of his music. His "up with the little guy" politics clearly shine through on many of the tracks, as does his love of history and the American West. Utah's take on the West is different from the cliches of movie and TV westerns. He saw it as a place where people strived and struggled and where both the people and the land were often defeated by the power of money. In this album, he's turned that sensibility into some wonderful songs about both the modern and the Old West. It's hard to pick out favorites there, but I've always particularly liked "The Telling Takes Me Home," "She'll Never Be Mine," and the gripping "Dog Canyon," a tough tale of the struggle for water and what people are willing to do in order to get it. "The Goodnight Loving Trail" is another winner. In fact, the only song on this collection I don't like is "Enola Gay," but I'm not sure we were meant to like it.

Utah hit that weird sweet spot where sentiment almost turns into sentimentality, but is always saved by sincerity and passion. I was lucky enough to get to see Utah live once in a very small club, and he was just as wonderful in person as on record.