It is a strange mix of themes ranging from the American West to the ballads and jigs of Celtic ancestors that somehow seems to make sense in the musical world Jack Hardy has created. And it is a separate world to which the listener is transported; a timeless place inhabited by tinkers and cowboys, saints and sinners, elves, virgins and crones. From his extensive travels and reading he has forged an endearing non-academic approach to literature, one that is more at home in the pub than in the classroom. "He clearly seems to enjoy making his listeners think. He may dare his audience to figure out what he is saying, but he also credits them with the intelligence to do so" (Tom Nelligan, Dirty Linen, 1998).
In Europe, where Hardy has toured extensively for over 20 years, he is accepted as an ambassador for American music. In an Italian encyclopedia of rock Jack has a larger entry than many prominent rock stars.
"Nothing adventuresome is created in a vacuum," Jack says, "you get people together and the creative sparks fly." The weekly songwriters workshop which he has hosted for many years taught and nurtured countless songwriters, not the least of which are Suzanne Vega, John Gorka, Shawn Colvin, Richard Shindell and David Massengill. The Fast Folk Musical Magazine, which he founded and edited, released the first recordings of most of the artists currently headlining folk festivals. This collection of over 100 compilation albums has now been taken over by the Smithsonian.
Gregarious and outgoing when talking about his songs and songwriting in general, Jack fiercely guards the privacy of his personal life. Jack Hardy was born in Indiana, his father a musician, his mother a painter. He grew up in New York, Colorado, and Connecticut, studied opera and literature in college.
In 1998, Prime CD reissued his first ten albums in a box set as well as his eleventh album The Passing. In 1996, BCN Records released a tribute album The Songs of Jack Hardy: Of the White Goddess, a collection of his Celtic ballads (all sung by women). In 1997, Jack was the recipient of The Kate Wolf Memorial Award, given yearly to "an artist who makes a difference through his music" by the World Folk Music Association. In 2000, Prime CD has released Jack's twelfth album Omens.
Omens was recorded live to 24 track analog in two days, using the vintage recording equipment of Prime CD's Theater 99 recording studio in New York City, with no overdubs. The fourteen songs range from the uptempo Celtic "Sile na gCioch" where a tinker finds a dress on the side of the road and gives it to a young lass, to the majestic "West of Dingle" where a woman faces a choice between her lover and her fiddle; from the biting barrage of juxtaposed media images of "I Ought to Know" to the romantic ballad "Only One Sky" and back to the uptempo humorous Clancy Brother-ish "The Boney Bailiff." This album takes you on quite a musical voyage with some of Jack's best poetic imagery, but it is the sweeping beautiful melodies that carry these songs directly into your memory. The players include Jack's current touring band: Tom Duval on electric guitar and harmony (also heard on Jack's albums The Hunter and Civil Wars), Mike Laureanno on Hofner bass and harmony, Dave Anthony on Drums (also heard on Jack's album The Passing), and Kate MacLeod on fiddle. The album also features a buried bonus track containing 19 minutes of Suzanne Vega interviewing Jack on the subject of songwriting. Hardy's 16th album, Rye Grass, arrived on Great Divide in 2009. Jack Hardy passed away on March 11, 2011.
source and more infos: http://www.jackhardy.com/
Fallen
Jack Hardy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Blown against the fence
Crossing there I saw you
Your step was like a dance
The seasons they are changing
We cannot change them back
It's not for us to gamble
Changed the ways of love
Fallen like the freight trains
That used to cry the night
The freedom that was with pain
The escape to make things right
All of that is over
As I like myself beside you
It's not that I am older
It's just I've changed my luck
And changed the ways of love
Fallen like the angel
Who knows that faults run deep
And alters to erase them
The child who falls asleep
And somewhere in that dream world
That clouds before the dawn
He awakes to find the fear gone
And understands the bluff
We've changed the ways of love
The first verse of Jack Hardy's "Fallen" paints a vivid autumnal picture with "Fallen though the leaves were/Blown against the fence/Crossing there I saw you/Your step was like a dance." The singer is describing a chance encounter with someone, perhaps a former lover, whose elegant stride suggests a kind of wistful grace. Throughout the song, Hardy muses on the passage of time and how life's changes affect our capacity for love.
The second verse acknowledges the inevitability of change: "The seasons they are changing/We cannot change them back/It's not for us to gamble/For we have changed enough." The idea that the seasons cycle endlessly, heedless of our individual desires or efforts, resonates with the song's underlying theme of acceptance. Instead of fighting against the changing of the seasons or lamenting the end of certain relationships, Hardy implores us to embrace these shifts with a kind of graceful resignation.
In the final verse, Hardy examines the idea of redemption and forgiveness: "Fallen like the angel/Who knows that faults run deep/And alters to erase them/The child who falls asleep/And somewhere in that dream world/That clouds before the dawn/He awakes to find the fear gone/And understands the bluff/We've changed the ways of love." Here, the image of the angel who has fallen and seeks to make amends with the divine is juxtaposed with the innocent sleep of a child, who is granted a reprieve from the fears that plague them. In both cases, the idea is that redemption and forgiveness are possible if we're willing to acknowledge our faults and work to change ourselves, just as we might endeavor to change our luck or the ways in which we love.
Line by Line Meaning
Fallen though the leaves were
Despite the presence of fallen leaves on the ground
Blown against the fence
Which were blown against the fence
Crossing there I saw you
While crossing that area, I saw you
Your step was like a dance
The way you walked had the characteristics of a dance
The seasons they are changing
The seasons are going through a transition
We cannot change them back
It is not within our power to reverse these changes
It's not for us to gamble
We should not risk what we have
For we have changed enough
Because we have already undergone significant change
Changed the ways of love
Our relationship has fundamentally changed
Fallen like the freight trains
Our connection has faltered like the sound of freight trains in the night
That used to cry the night
Which used to be so loud at night
The freedom that was with pain
The liberation we sought was not without its costs
The escape to make things right
Our attempt to flee and improve things
All of that is over
But those times are now gone
As I like myself beside you
As I lay next to you
It's not that I am older
It's not just that I have aged
It's just I've changed my luck
It's simply that my circumstances have changed
Fallen like the angel
We have also fallen from grace like angels
Who knows that faults run deep
As we understand our flaws
And alters to erase them
We attempt to mend ourselves and eliminate those flaws
The child who falls asleep
The child who ultimately drifts off to sleep
And somewhere in that dream world
And at some point in that dream-existence
That clouds before the dawn
That is foggy before the sunrise
He awakes to find the fear gone
This child wakes up to the absence of fear
And understands the bluff
And begins to comprehend the deceptions
We've changed the ways of love
Our relationship with each other has changed significantly
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: GEORGE WEISS, HUGO PERETTI, LUIGI CREATORE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind