The album opens with a song titled "The Future." Do we still have a future? I hope so. Rumor has it a new year is starting tomorrow. But either way, I love the song's first line, "I saw the future yesterday." Perfect, right? And this song is wonderfully hopeful, that we do have a future because the music will continue, with new voices rising up. The song also looks back at the beginnings of their careers, and tells of how one generation of musicians learns from the previous generation. Truly, music is what makes me hopeful about our future, even as we lose some of the talented musicians that we grew up with. There is so much great music out there right now, though most of it you won't hear on the radio. This track features some beautiful work by Stuart Duncan on fiddle. "We live in worlds we think will never end/Walk in the steps of those who've gone before/We feel the press of time as we extend/A hand to those that we never knew that we were waiting for." Listening to this song, I feel that the future is going to be just fine.
"Old Dog" has me thinking of Shadow, a black labrador mix that was a great companion. I still miss that dog. Everyone in the neighborhood loved him, and took care of him as he got older, picking him up and dropping him off at our house when he wandered a bit far. As he got older, he wanted to please us by doing the things he always enjoyed, and seemed sad that he was unable to, like he letting us down. "Ate just when he wanted to/Took his time on stairs/Seemed happiest when I was around/Curled up by my chair." This is such a sweet number. My parents never got another dog after Shadow. "These days I'm an old dog too/I take my time on stairs/And I picked up a scar or two/Battling my own bears."
The world has changed so much in my lifetime. One somewhat recent change is the great decline of printed newspapers, which is part of the current trouble folks have regarding a shared reality. In "Artie's Last Stand," Tom and John address this trouble, the song focusing on a man named Artie who runs a newstand (so the song's title has more than one meaning). "He said, Not many folks are buying papers these days/And certainly not three of four/Now they're getting their news in electronic ways/And I just don't know anymore." We used to be able to trust the news when it was printed. Sure, they'd make mistakes at times, and have to print retractions, but we all got the same news, and it connected us. In those days, we felt that journalists had a natural drive to get to the truth and to share it. And local papers covered the local news, rather than taking their stories from national wire services. And, yes, there was an evening edition. "Once the whole world was right there in your hands/Every morning and late afternoon." We have lost much, haven't we? "'Cause real life is messy and full of surprises/It's not just point A to point B." That's followed by "Ran Away With The Circus," about another change in our modern world. When I was growing up, you could still run away with the circus, and there was something appealing about it. In this song, Tom sings of someone who does run away to make a life with the circus. The line "All I can say is I ran away with the circus" is delivered with a certain amount of pride, and that makes it all the more appealing. This song takes place at a certain moment in history, and there is a moment when that becomes clear, and that's when it becomes more serious. "But it all changed in an instant/December 1941/I knew where I was needed/And my days with the circus were done." For many of us, that feeling of joy and freedom associated with the circus was found in music, in traveling to see our favorite bands, and Jerry Garcia in an interview made mention of that very thing regarding the Grateful Dead.
"Pathfinder" has a different sound, being presented with just vocals and banjo. It's a song dedicated to Pete Seeger, or simply, "For Pete," as is written in the disc's liner notes. "He did not go for glory/He was not afraid to fail/Where he did not find a path, he left a trail." There is a wonderful power to this song. "Some say that he's no longer here/The hell he's not." This is not the first time that John McCutcheon has paid tribute to Pete Seeger. In 2019, he released an album titled To Everyone In All The World: A Celebration Of Pete Seeger. And you probably recall Tom Paxton's "Pete's Shoulders (The Power Of Song)," a song he recorded with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. "Pathfinder" is followed by "Stop At Nothing." I've come to the conclusion that this country loves school shootings. Otherwise, they would have been stopped by now. This song addresses this insanity. "Another town, another story/Another school, another day/Of hoping it will all just go away." Schools, as this song mentions, now hold school shooting drills. That's the answer? What the hell? Outlaw the goddamn guns. The guns are the problem, the guns are the probem, the guns are the problem. Anyone with a brain sees this, but "the cowards we elected" won't do a damn thing about it. This country does not love children. Given a choice – and this country is given a choice – it chooses guns over children every time. How screwed up are we as a nation, as a people?
Tom Paxton delivers "Sargeant O'Reilly" a cappella. This song fits in the great folk tradition. "The mayor's cracking down these days/Arresting us left and right/To the mental home or off to jail/They'll keep us out of sight/So the sidewalks will be open/And their conscience will be clear." That's followed by "Cheatin' When I'm Eatin'," a totally fun number, a sort of play on those glorious, sad country songs. "And the bottom of this bottle/Just won't tell me where you are/I ate a thirty-two-ounce T-bone/My cholesterol's through the roof/You want to know how much I miss you/There's the proof." As the title lets us know, this song focuses on food: "I was raised on bacon/Everything came chicken-fried/Everybody ate the food I ate/And everybody died/Well, I'm cheatin' when I'm eatin'/When I'm not with you." The track will give you several laughs, and it contains some wonderful work by Jon Carroll on piano, as well as some delightful stuff from Steve Hinson on steel guitar.
A pretty vibe is established at the beginning of "Rebel Gal," a song of World War II. "We came in over the coast of France at 18,000 feet/All of us were very young, and life for us was sweet." The song has a gentle feel, particularly in Tom's vocal's performance, and features some beautiful work on fiddle. That's followed by "Last Man Sitting," which also takes place during World War II, its opening line setting the time as 1942. John sings this one, to piano accompaniment. The song moves to 1954, but the place remains the same, and is about a group of friends. It becomes about what changes and what doesn't, and continues to move forward in time. It's a beautiful and sad song, featuring a passionate and moving vocal performance. "Some things vanish without a trace/The drugstore moved to a different place/The first day that we showed up there/We found our old table and four chairs."
"Every Monday At Two" opens with some really nice work on piano, and soon kicks in to become a light, playful and totally catchy number. It's a song about songwriting, about the collaboration that we are listening to (and so about friendship too). "This old pair of cohorts/Telling jokes of all sorts/Spending time talking sports/Giving healthcare reports/This old pair of cohorts/Our mission is clear/It's why we are here/Year after year/Starts with one good idea." And yes, they rhyme "idea" with "year," so it's "idear," which sounds right to my Massachusetts ear. This track features some cool stuff on steel guitar, and I love that piano. "We turn loose one more song/As this world rolls along." And while they say that a song is "Maybe not a home run," they tell us, "But, man, it was fun." And speaking of baseball, it is still the best sport. I love baseball, even though the powers that be keep screwing with the game (I hate the pitch clock and all the other recent changes that seem designed to destroy what makes the game special), and I love songs about baseball. "Famous For A Day" is about pitcher Ron Necciai, who struck out all twenty-seven batters in a game, a unique achievement. It's a beautiful song, and of course it's about more than baseball. "Nothing lasts forever, no matter what you do." (By the way, if you love songs about baseball, as I do, be sure to check out The Baseball Project, a band that writes and sings only songs about the sport.)
"We Know How This Ends" is a delightful, playful number. And it also mentions baseball, its second verse taking place at a Cubs game: "It's the bottom of the ninth/With a Cub at every base/And everyone at Wrigley knows exactly what we face/We know how this ends/'Cause we've seen it before/Strikeout, double play/God, it's such a cliche/But they do it once more." I'm a Red Sox fan, and until 2004, my family, friends and I knew exactly this thing. The Cubs winning the World Series in 2016 was the only good thing that happened that year. This song turns positive in its final verse. The album concludes with "Lay This Old Guitar Down," a somewhat sad song, since Tom Paxton has stopped touring. I count myself fortunate to have seen him perform (my first time was back in the late 1980s). "But I did it, now it's over, and I'm done/I'm going to lay this good old guitar down/My steadfast old companion as we went from town to town." This track features some nice work by John on guitar, and uplifting work on fiddle. "This weathered old guitar/I treasure every scar/Every crack and worn-down fret/Is where the memories are."
CD Track List
- The Future
- Old Dog
- Artie's Last Stand
- Ran Away With The Circus
- Pathfinder
- Stop At Nothing
- Sargeant O'Reilly
- Cheatin' When I'm Eatin'
- Rebel Gal
- Last Man Sitting
- Every Monday At Two
- Famous For A Day
- We Know How This Ends
- Lay This Old Guitar Down
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