''For the Sake of the Song'' is the debut album by
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
singer/songwriter
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter. , released in 1968. The majority of the songs, including the title track, "Tecumseh Valley", "(Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria", "Waitin' Around to Die", and "Sad Cinderella", were re-recorded in more stripped-down versions for subsequent studio albums.
Background
''For the Sake of the Song'' would be the flagship release on Poppy Records, a label operated by Keven Eggers, with whom Van Zandt would have a long and complex professional relationship. According to John Kruth's book ''To Live's To Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt'', Eggers first heard Van Zandt's song "Tecumseh Valley" when producer
Jack Clement
Jack Henderson Clement (April 5, 1931 – August 8, 2013) was an American singer, songwriter, and record and film producer.
Biography Early life
Raised and educated in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Clement was performing at an early age, ...
played a demo of it recorded at a
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
recording studio in 1966, with Eggers marveling, "I thought it was an absolute classic song. When I heard it I said, 'This is a brilliant songwriter.' I told Jack right then and there that I would sign Townes and make a record with him. Townes was brilliant from day one." Clement, who had been an engineer for
Sam Phillips
Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...
at
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...
and an established songwriter himself, offered to produce the album with Jim Malloy. Van Zandt, who had gained a small but devout following among the folk "purists" who attended his shows in
coffeehouses
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
and dive bars, agreed to travel to
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
for the recording sessions. Although Nashville had become known as the epicenter of commercial country music, by the late 1960s it had also produced hit albums by artists in rock, pop, and folk circles, such as ''Blonde On Blonde'', ''John Wesley Harding'' and ''Nashville Skyline'' by
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, ''Bookends'' by
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...
, and ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' by the
Gram Parsons
Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) who was known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, ...
-led incarnation of
the Byrds
The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...
.
Recording
For listeners who had seen and heard Van Zandt perform his poetic songs solo with just an
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
, ''For the Sake of the Song'' came as somewhat of a shock, with John Kruth observing, "Instead of being the focal point of the album, Townes and his songs were lost in a
Phil Spector
Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...
-like 'Wall of Sound.'" Van Zandt's voice - already unconventional for mainstream country fans - is drenched in echo and surrounded with ethereal organs, medieval recorders and
harpsichords
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
, and the overproduction would lead the singer to rerecord many of the songs on his subsequent albums. In his biography on the singer, Kruth quotes producer Clement, who later recalled, "Townes was so different. He didn't fit the country profile. He was a unique songwriter, very poetical. 'The Silver Ships of Andilar' was more like a movie than a song...That first album was experimental. It's just how it fell into place at the time. I wasn't tryin' to do anything different from what I usually did. Townes wasn't too flappable. We just made everything work around him. I dunno...Maybe I overproduced it a little bit." Throughout his career, Van Zandt would maintain a flippant attitude towards recording, always more interested in songwriting itself, and was likely overawed by the charismatic Clement, who had produced
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...
's smash hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and written "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" for
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
. In the foreword to ''I'll Be Here In The Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt'', Clement wrote, "Townes was fun to work with, but he didn't think much of the recording process. He just wanted to have some action going." In the 1993 Rhino Records reissue of the album, Van Zandt is quoted, "I was awe stricken when I first went to Nashville. A young Texas folk singer suddenly surrounded by the best players, producers and engineers in the world. I sat in a chair and sang when they told me to. I love the record because it was my first." In the spring of 1994, Van Zandt elaborated to Aretha Sills: "Got a publishing company, made a record, ''For the Sake of the Song'', and it’s now been re-released under the title ''The First Album''. I like it, but I had to re-record about four of the songs, because I was just totally taken — not on purpose — but totally taken off guard. I was surrounded by ten of the best musicians in the world. Boy, and I’m a hick from Texas, you know? I’m a cowboy hippie from Texas and all of a sudden I’m playing these songs and I was just showing ‘em how they went and just playing. And then I realized toward the end of the record that that’s not how the song goes. That’s not how it was written, so on the next record I had veto power and listened and took equal charge." Before overdubs, Van Zandt recorded the basic tracks "live" at Bradley's Barn on a three-track recorder.
Composition
''For the Sake of the Song'' includes all Van Zandt originals and several of his best known works, including "Waiting Around To Die", a song the singer performs in the film ''Heartworn Highways''. In the Van Zandt documentary ''Be Here To Love Me'', the singer's first wife Fran reveals that Van Zandt wrote the song in a small
walk-in closet
A walk-in closet (North American) or walk-in wardrobe ( UK) or dressing room is typically a large closet, wardrobe or room that is primarily intended for storing clothes, footwear etc., and being used as a changing room. As the name suggests, walk- ...
, which he had turned into a makeshift studio, in their first apartment after the couple got married: "He would sit in there for hours. You'd have to remind him it was dinnertime to get him to come out. That was when he wrote 'Waiting Around to Die', which was the first song...I was twenty years old - a newly wed - and 'Waitin' Around to Die wasn't exactly...I was expecting a ''love ballad'' or something." The song chronicles the life of a fictional drifter as he passes sadly through the experiences of an abusive father, the abandonment of his mother, substance use disorders, fast women, and even prison. Van Zandt later explained to Paul Zollo in ''Songwriters on Songwriting'', "I have to watch that when I do shows. I have to stay away from that side, because nobody wants to hear blues on blues on blues." The title track has also garnered much praise, with John Kruth writing that the song "reveals the complexity of an unrequited relationship burdened by the pitfall of desire. The lyric contains a sophisticated internal
rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.
An example of the ABAB rh ...
that sings like a country song while reading like poetry on the page." "That's where my poetic background comes in," Van Zandt is quoted in ''Songwriters on Songwriting''. "It seems a lot of people in Nashville write by phrase, or by the line. As opposed to writing by the word. A lot of my best songs are where every single word is where it's supposed to be...'For the Sake of the Song' was written by the word. I once sat down and wrote out the rhyme scheme for that song, and it was amazing. Pretty complex. But it didn’t seem that complex when I was writing it." On "Tecumseh Valley", a tragic song about a miner's daughter named Caroline, Van Zandt agreed to change the line "whoring out on the streets" to "walking in the streets" for the album at Clement's suggestion, who feared the lyric might be too offensive.
Release & reception
''For the Sake of The Song'' was released shortly before
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
, 1968 to an indifferent public and a confused fan base. John Kruth notes in ''To Live's To Fly'' that "the overproduction of Van Zandt's music ultimately had a
boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...
effect, alienating Townes's small but devoted following...who believed he was the genuine article, 'the Real Deal,' the last link in the long line of troubadours that stretched back to
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspired ...
and
Jimmie Rodgers
James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmi ...
." Kruth also quotes other friends and contemporaries of Van Zandt who expressed their disdain for the album's gaudiness, including
Guy Clark
Guy Charles Clark (November 6, 1941 – May 17, 2016) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet ...
and
Mickey Newbury
Milton Sims "Mickey" Newbury Jr. (May 19, 1940 – September 29, 2002) was an American songwriter, recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Early life and career
Newbury was born in Houston, Texas, on May 19, ...
(who wrote the original album's liner notes). With the passing of time, however, a clear distinction has been made between the production and Van Zandt's poetic, often brilliant songwriting, with Mark Deming of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
enthusing, "Townes Van Zandt wrote songs with an uncommon grace and poetic clarity, and he sang them with a voice that was at once straightforward, eloquent, and mindful of the arid
beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
of his images...the album's production and arrangements occasionally suggest that Jack Clement and Jim Malloy didn't always know what to make of what he brought them." Although it could be argued that the production choices lean away from the singer's strengths, ''For the Sake of the Song'' remains a unique recording in the Van Zandt canon; in the liner notes to the Charly Records reissue of the album, the case is made that "Although ostensibly an acoustic recording, the utilization of drum and percussive sounds provides the album with an unique edge."
Many of the compositions on ''For the Sake of The Song'' have been covered by other artists. Some notable examples include "For the Sake of the Song", which was recorded by
Azure Ray
Azure Ray is an American dream pop duo, consisting of musicians Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor. Formed in Athens, Georgia in 2001, they later moved to Omaha, Nebraska and became part of the Saddle Creek Records music scene, which also included ...
on their
EP ''November'' and William Boyd Chisum on his 2006 album ''Chasing The Wind''. "Tecumseh Valley" has been recorded by
Bobby Bare
Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and "500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician.
Early ca ...
,
Nancy Griffith
Nanci Caroline Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program ''Austin City Limits'' starting in 1985 (season 10). In 1994 she won a Grammy Award fo ...
, Matthew Cook and Van Zandt disciple
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...
. "I'll Be There In The Morning" was recorded by
George Hamilton IV
George Hege Hamilton IV (July 19, 1937 – September 17, 2014) was an American country musician. He began performing in the late 1950s as a teen idol, switching to country music in the early 1960s.
Biography
Hamilton was born in Winston-Salem, ...
on his 1980 album ''Forever Young'' and by Mark Dvorak on his 1992 album ''Use It Up, Wear It Out''. "Waiting Around To Die" is one of the singer's most covered compositions, having been recorded by
The Be Good Tanyas
The Be Good Tanyas are a Canadian folk music group formed in Vancouver in 1999. Their influences include folk, country, and bluegrass. The style of music they perform can be referred to as alt-country or Americana.
History
The Be Good Tanya ...
(whose version appears in the episode "
Bit by a Dead Bee
"Bit by a Dead Bee" is the third episode of the second season of the American television crime drama series '' Breaking Bad''. It was written by Peter Gould and directed by Terry McDonough.
Plot summary
Having gotten away from Tuco Salamanca, ...
" in the second season of the hit TV series ''
Breaking Bad
''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Bryan Cranston), an underpaid, overqualified, and dispirited hig ...
'' as well as the video game ''
The Walking Dead: The Final Season''), Matt Cutillo, the Dead Raven Choir, Biana De Leon, Foreign Born, Frenchy Burrito, Pat Haney, Rhonda Harris and
Helldorado. A duet of "Waiting Around to Die" featuring Van Zandt and
Calvin Russell can be heard on ''The Best of Townes Van Zandt''.
Re-releases
''For the Sake of The Song'' was re-released in 1993 on
Tomato Records
The Tomato Music Co. Ltd., also known as Tomato Records, is an American independent record label founded in New York City in 1977 by music manager Kevin Eggers. It was a successor to his previous record labels Utopia and Poppy, the label was self- ...
through
Rhino Records
A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...
under the altered title ''First Album''.
Fat Possum Records
Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...
released the album in 2007 under its original title.
Track listing
All tracks written by Townes Van Zandt.
#"For the Sake of the Song"
#"Tecumseh Valley"
#"Many a Fine Lady"
#"(Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria"
#"Waitin' Around to Die"
#"I'll Be There in the Morning"
#"Sad Cinderella"
#"The Velvet Voices"
#"Talkin' Karate Blues"
#"All Your Young Servants"
#"Sixteen Summers, Fifteen Falls"
Personnel
*Townes Van Zandt - guitar, vocals
;Technical
*
Val Valentin
Luis Pastor "Val" Valentin (January 6, 1920 – March 24, 1999) was an American recording engineer with six decades of work in the music industry. Much of his work was done for MGM Records and Verve Records. His large discography includes Jazz ...
- director of engineering
*
Mickey Newbury
Milton Sims "Mickey" Newbury Jr. (May 19, 1940 – September 29, 2002) was an American songwriter, recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Early life and career
Newbury was born in Houston, Texas, on May 19, ...
- liner notes
*
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 1954 ...
- art direction, cover design
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:For The Sake Of The Song (album)
1968 debut albums
Townes Van Zandt albums
Tomato Records albums
Albums produced by Jack Clement
Fat Possum Records albums