“You sorry old soldier, go home
‘You sorry old bad girl, go home
Cause by now you’ve seen it all
Just relax now and recall
All your stories forever and ever.”
 -from “All Your Stories” by Jesse Winchester

Jesse Winchester seemed a gentle man with a quiet delivery and a low-key style of putting the stories of everyday life into song.  I was lucky to see him twice in the last three years before he lost his life to cancer just a month short of his 70th birthday.  During those two performances, the story he seemed to have the most fun singing was “It’s a Shame About Him.”

That song was included on Jesse’s 2009 album, Love Filling Station.  The album version is somewhat “slick” sounding for a Jesse Winchester song, with a fiddle featured almost as prominently as Jesse’s voice.  At least to my ears, that recording does not convey the true flavor of the song.  The version chosen for the Song of the Week is a live performance with just Jesse and his guitar.  The sound quality is not that great, but the performance is.

I could write on for pages about Jesse Winchester’s songs, but I will spare you that for the moment.  If anyone would like to really get a feel for Jesse’s story and his personality, I would recommend listening to the American Routes program that was presented by NPR on January 21, 2015.  On that show a full hour was devoted to an interview with Jesse and several of his songs were played.  You can hear it by clicking here.  You can also see a short piece I posted after Jesse’s passing by clicking here.

Just before his death, Jesse completed the recording of his last album, A Reasonable Amount of Trouble.  In the liner notes for that album, Jimmy Buffett wrote:

“In my way of thinking, Jesse may no longer reside in the world of matter, but his energy sure as hell does. It is timeless and eternal and will be with us always from Montreal to Memphis, to those red skies off toward New Orleans [this last phrase being a reference to Jesse’s song ‘Biloxi.’ -law]

I am grateful that we still do have that timeless and eternal energy with us.

Keeping in Mind that the songs on A Reasonable Amount of Trouble were written as Jesse’s life in this world were coming to an end, I think I will move this post toward the end by quoting a few lines from a song entitled “All That We Have Is Now”:

“Oh my my, look at the time fly
Sorry I really have to run
Oh I just love being with you
Really the whole thing was such fun

The sun is going down
There’s shadows all around
And I feel more than wine
We must do this again sometime
But I can’t tell you when
But what a joy it’s been
All that we have is now”

And now, “It’s a Shame About Him.”  If you had been at this performance, you would have probably been laughing.  Watching it now should at least bring a good smile to your face.

It’s a Shame About Him
By Jesse Winchester

Last night Ellen bid and made a three no-trump
And took a hundred dollars from her friends
She got a little nest egg when her daddy died
And now they’re living on the dividends
Ellen is the chairman of the Children’s Fund
She’s the biggest donor, don’t you know
And I recall the day the drinks were on the house
When Ellen finally beat the tennis pro

But it’s a shame about him
It’s a shame about him
When he’s trying so hard
And he still just can’t win
It’s a shame about him
Unh unh unh
It’s a shame about him

It was back in Eisenhower’s second term
Before they put old Elvis in a tank
That Ellen married Bill and Sarah’s oldest boy
The wedding was good news down at the bank
Bill Jr. wasn’t half the man his father was
And he just let the business go to hell
And if Ellen hadn’t waded in and taken charge
The family woulda prob’ly had to sell

But it’s a shame about him
It’s a shame about him
When he’s trying so hard
And he still just can’t win
It’s a shame about him
Unh unh unh
It’s a shame about him

Well I just saw Bill Jr. in the bank today
And he’s put on an awful lot of weight
He was off to see his lawyer so he couldn’t talk
Already he was half an hour late
But Marjorie the teller says the rumor is
Ellen told Bill Jr. that they’re through
Now watch and see, without that man to hold her down
There is just no telling what she’ll do

But it’s a shame about him
It’s a shame about him
When he’s trying so hard
And he still just can’t win
It’s a shame about him
Unh unh unh
It’s a shame about him

© Jesse Winchester