My own tastes run to the complex, I will admit. I gravitate to music that I need to hear a couple times before I can feel like I understand what’s going on, and if I get it after one listen, I’m generally bored after that first listen and don’t come back for more.
Which is why Josh Haden’s song “Spiritual” hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks on its first listen, in 1997, and why I keep going back to that first hearing. Haden leads the band Spain and wrote the simple, direct waltz for them, but my first exposure to it was through a cover his bass-playing dad Charlie made with Pat Metheny on their 1997 duo album Beyond the Missouri Sky (Short Stories). In their version, Metheny’s multi-tracked on guitar and drums, with loops of his own playing providing some rhythmic framework for his own guitar solos, and Haden lays down some eye-wateringly lyrical playing of his own.
Their 8-minute version is the best $0.99 cents you’ll spend this year, so make the investment.
Now, besides this cover, there’s Johnny Cash’s from the 1996 Unchained. The gentle, expansive cornfield melancholy of Haden/Metheny has turned darker, more reflective. That distinctive baritone still had a lot of its firmness and color in 1996; hearing its gravelly decline through the later American series brought a lump to the throat.
To see and hear how Josh Haden himself sings his song, check out this video from last November, from David Letterman’s show. Quicker tempo, a little statelier delivery than Haden/Metheny or Cash. It’s cooler and less of an existential crisis, yet there’s a bleak undercurrent that isn’t going away. Strangely, despite using more traditional instruments, Haden’s version sounds somehow less “country” than Cash’s. (Note also Petra Haden sitting in on violin, Rachel Haden on cello, with Charlie Haden on bass.)
Still, Josh Haden’s approach changes from night to night, as can be heard on this looser live recording from 1999.
Friends of mine going through a rough patch have been known to have Beyond the Missouri Sky handed to them to speed the healing process. That’s mainly because of this last track, which focused my attention in ways that few songs or pieces have before or since. I just had to put everything aside, put my head in my hands and listen.
Here are the lyrics.
“Jesus, I don’t want to die alone
Jesus, oh Jesus, I don’t want to die alone
My love wasn’t true
Now all I have is you
Jesus, oh Jesus, I don’t want to die aloneJesus if you hear my last breath
Don’t leave me here
Left to die a lonely death
I know I have sinned
But Lord I’m suffering
Jesus, oh Jesus, if you hear
My last breath.All my troubles
All my pain
Will leave me
Once again
Once again”