Song for Day 13 of a 4 Year Funeral - "The Last Hurrah" by John Stewart

Day 13 - "The Last Hurrah" by John Stewart

Songwriter John Stewart (1939-2008)

     If you are a fan of contemporary guitar there are two names you already know:  session player Lenny Breau (1941-1984), the Segovia of the genre, and songwriter John Coburn Stewart (1939-2008).  Do not confuse the latter with Rod Stewart, who, as the Ted Williams of music, never wrote a bad song in his life.  John Stewart was the Babe Ruth of the industry, specializing in home runs while leading the league in strikeouts.  We overlook cacophanies like "Bellyful of Tennessee" or "Hero From the War" that can make a listener envy the deaf, we recognize some of the hits he wrote, co-wrote or arranged:  "Tom Dooley" (as a replacement for Dave Guard with the Kingston Trio), "Daydream Believer" (for the Monkees) and "Gold".  Without question, though, his masterpieces remain unrecognized by the public. 

     Some may be familiar with "Survivors", used in Hillary Clinton's campaign for universal health care in the early 1990s.

Children in Cheyenne
Are taught in their schools:
Believe in the country
Don't break any rules
But the T.V. is on and they
Know something's wrong
Someone must tell them
To keep pushing on

      At the five minute mark of "John Stewart Memorial" a retired, enervated reminisces about the country's last whistlestop campaign with Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, days before the assassination.  A number of John's songs commemorate the loss of the Kennedy's.

"The Last Campaign Trilogy"

It was more than Indiana, it was more than South Dakota
It was more than California, it was more than Oregon
It was a race against time, it was always on our minds
And he died on the road

"Clack, Clack"

Now that Bobby's gone, this is my way of crying
when I heard...when I heard...

"Dreamers on the Rise"

And if three
Wishes came into my life
I'd say one
Was to gaze into your eyes
And I'd say two
Would be turning back our lives
And three's a long way to go
For that kind of wind to blow
A long time ago
We were dreamers on the rise

      Inside and outside the realm of political writing, John Stewart remains among the most eclectic, prolific and proficient songwriters of the 20th Century.  He's not quite the lyricist that Cohen was (no one is), the composer that Cat Stevens remains, the performer that Peter Gabriel can be or the prosodist that John Prine is, but it is difficult to imagine a better quadruple threat in the last half century.  His influence on the music world is incalculable.  For example, Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac fame learned to play guitar from listening to John Stewart albums.

     "The Last Hurrah" serves as both an elegy for John's friend, Bobby Kennedy, but as Stewart's own biography.  In Memphis, Tennessee, he was forsaken by sponsors who chose to promote his buddies, Kris Kristofferson, instead.  In Los Angeles his prospects were dashed by record producers who, contrary to expectations, viewed John's Democratic politics with antipathy.  This parallelism makes these lyrics all the more remarkable.

Lyrics:

Clear the tracks, the song's been taken
This may be the last hurrah
In Tennessee they were forsaken
L.A. was the coup de grace

Clean your guns, the battle's over
They belong now to the wind
The saddest words I've ever spoken
Were the words "It might have been"

And it's all right, it's only music
It is singing in the stars
Keep your dreams as clean as silver
This may be the last hurrah

Loyal friends and front row dancers
Hitch you wagon to a star
A chilly wind blew cold this morning
This may be the last hurrah

And it's all right, it's only music
It is singing in the stars
Keep your dreams as clean as silver
This may be the last hurrah
This may be the last hurrah 

 

Links:

Day 1 (The Inauguration) - "Hands" - Jewel

Day 2 (The Million Woman March) - "Testimony" by Ferron, sung by Marcelle Davies Lashley

Day 3 - "Ruins" - by Cat Stevens
 
Day 4 - "Eve of Destruction" (1964) - by P. F. Sloan performed by Barry McGuire

Day 5 - "Hypersensive Jester" - by Denny Guy

Day 6 - "Teresa" - by John Stewart

Day 7 - "Black Boys on Mopeds" by Sinéad O'Connor

Day 8 - "Burn, Baby, Burn" - by Bruce Cockburn

Day 9 - "Black Day in July" - by Gordon Lightfoot

Day 10 - "Democracy is Coming" - Leonard Cohen

Day 11 - "First We Take Manhattan" - Leonard Cohen

Day 12 - "Cactus" - Ferron

Day 13 - "The Last Hurrah" - John Stewart