When Jackson Frank was eleven years old, a furnace exploded at his school, sending a ball of flames down corridors until it ended up in Frank's music classroom in the Cleveland Hill Elementary School in Cheektowaga, New York. The fire killed fifteen of his fellow students and burned Frank over more than half his body.[1] It was during his time in the hospital that he was first introduced to playing music, when a teacher, Charlie Castelli, brought in an acoustic guitar to keep Frank occupied during his recovery. When he was 21, he was awarded an insurance cheque of $110,500 for his injuries, giving him enough to "catch a boat to England."
His eponymous 1965 album, Jackson C. Frank, was produced by Paul Simon while the two of them were also playing folk clubs in England. Frank was so shy during the recording that he asked to be shielded by screens so that Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and Al Stewart (who also attended the recording) could not see him, claiming "I can't play. You're looking at me." The most famous track, "Blues Run the Game", was covered by Simon and Garfunkel, and later by Wizz Jones, Counting Crows, Colin Meloy, Bert Jansch, Laura Marling, and Robin Pecknold (White Antelope), while Nick Drake also recorded it privately. Another song, "Milk and Honey", appeared in Vincent Gallo's film The Brown Bunny, and was also covered by Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, and Sandy Denny, whom he dated for a while. During their relationship, Jackson convinced Sandy to give up nursing (then her profession) and concentrate on music full-time.
Although Frank was well received in England for a while, in 1966 things took a turn for the worse as his mental health began to unravel. At the same time he began to experience writer's block. His insurance payment was running out so he decided to go back to the United States for two years. When he returned to England in 1968 he was deemed a different person. His depression, stemming from the childhood trauma of the classroom fire, had increased and he had no self-confidence. Al Stewart recalled that: "He [Frank] proceeded to fall apart before our very eyes. His style that everyone loved was melancholy, very tuneful things. He started doing things that were completely impenetrable. They were basically about psychological angst, played at full volume with lots of thrashing. I don't remember a single word of them, it just did not work. There was one review that said he belonged on a psychologist's couch. Then shortly after that, he hightailed it back to Woodstock again, because he wasn't getting any work."
While in Woodstock, he married Elaine Sedgwick, an English former fashion model. They had a son and later a daughter, Angeline. After his son died of Cystic Fibrosis, Frank went into a period of great depression and was ultimately committed to an institution. By the early 1970s Frank began to beg aid from friends. Karl Dallas wrote an enthusiastic piece in 1975 in Melody Maker, and in 1978, his 1965 album was re-released as Jackson Frank Again, with a new cover sleeve, although this did not encourage fresh awareness of Frank.
In 1984, Frank took a trip to New York City in a desperate bid to locate Paul Simon, but he ended up sleeping on the sidewalk. His mother, who had been in hospital for open heart surgery, found him gone with no forwarding address when she arrived home. He was living on the street and was frequently admitted and discharged from various institutions. He was treated for paranoid schizophrenia, a diagnosis that was refuted by Frank himself as he had always claimed that he actually had depression caused by the trauma he had experienced as a child.
Just as Frank’s prospects seemed to be at their worst, a fan from the area around Woodstock, Jim Abbott, discovered him in the early 1990s. Abbott had been discussing music with Mark Anderson, a teacher at the local college he was attending. The conversation had turned to folk music, which they both enjoyed, when Abbott asked the teacher if he had heard of Frank. He recollected: "I hadn’t even thought about it for a couple of years, and he goes, ‘Well yes, as a matter of fact, I just got a letter from him. Do you feel like helping a down-on-his-luck folk singer?"
Frank, who had known Anderson from their days at Gettysburg College, had decided to write him to ask if there was anywhere in Woodstock he could stay after he had made up his mind to leave New York City. Abbott phoned Frank, and then organized a temporary placement for him at a senior citizens’ home in Woodstock. Abbott was stunned by what he saw when he travelled to New York to visit Frank.
"When I went down I hadn’t seen a picture of him, except for his album cover. Then, he was thin and young. When I went to see him, there was this heavy guy hobbling down the street, and I thought, ‘That can’t possibly be him’...I just stopped and said ‘Jackson?’ and it was him. My impression was, ‘Oh my God’, it was almost like the elephant man or something. He was so unkempt, dishevelled.” A further side effect of the fire was a thyroid malfunction causing him to put on weight. “He had nothing. It was really sad. We went and had lunch and went back to his room. It almost made me cry, because here was a fifty-year-old man, and all he had to his name was a beat-up old suitcase and a broken pair of glasses. I guess his caseworker had given him a $10 guitar, but it wouldn’t stay in tune. It was one of those hot summer days. He tried to play Blues Run The Game for me, but his voice was pretty much shot."
Soon after this, Frank was sitting on a bench in Queens, New York while awaiting a move to Woodstock, when someone shot him in his left eye and consequently blinded him. At first no details were known, but it was later determined that children from the neighborhood were firing a pellet gun indiscriminately at people and Frank happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Abbott then promptly helped him move to Woodstock. During this time, Frank began recording some demos of new songs. Frank’s resurfacing led to the first CD release of his self-titled album. In some pressings, Frank's later songs were included as a bonus disc with the album.
Frank died of pneumonia and cardiac arrest in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on March 3, 1999, at the age of 56.
Though he never achieved fame during his lifetime, his songs have been covered by many well-known artists, including Simon and Garfunkel, Counting Crows, Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch, Laura Marling, and Robin Pecknold (as White Antelope) of Fleet Foxes. Frank's song "I Want To Be Alone", also known as "Dialogue," appeared on the soundtrack for the film Daft Punk's Electroma. Soulsavers covered "Blues Run the Game" on their single "Revival" (7" vinyl, 30 April 2007). Marianne Faithfull covered Frank's arrangement of a traditional song, "Kimbie" on her 2008 album Easy Come, Easy Go and included the song in the repertoire of her 2009 tour. Erland & The Carnival also covered "My Name Is Carnival," apparently Frank's favourite song. Bert Jansch also covered this song as a gesture to Frank.
Sandy Denny's song, "Next Time Around," contains coded references to Frank, her ex-boyfriend. "Marcy's Song" is played by Patrick, John Hawkes' character, in the 2011 film Martha Marcy May Marlene and "Marlene" plays in the closing credits. Laura Barton's BBC Radio 4 programme "Blues Run the Game", first broadcast 20th November 2012, included interviews with Al Stewart, John Renbourn, Jim Abbott and John Kay as well as archive material of Jackson C. Frank talking and singing.
You Never Wanted Me
Jackson C. Frank Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My back against the wall
Not a word that passed between us
Comes to call
Just your shadow on the window
And your step on down the hall
You never wanted me, babe
You never knew me at all
I haven't any picture
To set before my eyes
Nothing to blame
When the blues start to rise
Just the memory of laughter
And the living out of lies
And if I could change my ways, babe
You'd never have said goodbye
If you ever get the time, baby
Please think on me
It's a lock that can't be broken
And there isn't any key
And I'm only in your mind
Only you can set me free
You can't hurt me anymore, babe
And that isn't hard to see
Someday, someone will leave you
And I know you'll feel the same
You'll mark it down to memory
And the dream that never came
Well there are no answers given
When love is just a game
You never wanted me, babe
And now I feel the same
The lyrics to Jackson C. Frank's song "You Never Wanted Me" are melancholic and poignant, evoking feelings of unrequited love and resignation. The singer in the lyrics is feeling unsure and waiting for something that never comes. Their back is against the wall, and they are left with just memories and an unfulfilled longing.
The imagery of the shadow on the window and the step down the hall conveys the sense of someone who is absent, someone the singer is waiting and hoping for, but who never comes. The line "You never wanted me, babe, you never knew me at all" reveals the singer's realization that the person they were hoping for never really knew them or cared for them.
The lyrics go on to describe how the singer has nothing to blame when the blues start to rise, except for the memory of laughter and living out of lies. The reference to changing their ways suggests a sense of regret and a hope for a different outcome. Yet, the singer is resigned to the fact that it's too late, and the person they were hoping for has already said goodbye.
Overall, the lyrics to "You Never Wanted Me" are a beautiful and heartbreaking expression of unrequited love and the disappointment and regret that comes with it. It's a deeply emotional song that captures the pain of unfulfilled longing and the resignation that comes with accepting that it's time to move on.
Line by Line Meaning
Wondering and waiting
With uncertainty and anticipation, I was awaiting your response
My back against the wall
I felt hopeless and trapped
Not a word that passed between us
Our communication was null and void
Comes to call
To remind me of the shallowness of our relationship
Just your shadow on the window
Only a ghost of you remains
And your step on down the hall
Your departure was inaudible and uneventful
You never wanted me, babe
It's painfully evident that I was never your desired companion
You never knew me at all
You were oblivious to my true identity
I haven't any picture
I don't have any fond memories to fall back on
To set before my eyes
To lighten my sorrows through reminiscence
Nothing to blame
No one is at fault for the love that was never there
When the blues start to rise
When I feel overwhelmed with sadness
Just the memory of laughter
Only a fleeting moment of amusement remains
And the living out of lies
Our relationship was a facade of deception
And if I could change my ways, babe
If only I had a chance to alter my actions
You'd never have said goodbye
Perhaps it would've prolonged our inevitable separation
If you ever get the time, baby
In the event that you ever contemplate your past with me
Please think on me
Please consider my presence in your life
It's a lock that can't be broken
Our past is immutable
And there isn't any key
There is no solution to our shortcomings
And I'm only in your mind
I am only a memory for you
Only you can set me free
Only you can cure me of my yearning for you
You can't hurt me anymore, babe
You have lost the power to inflict pain on me
And that isn't hard to see
It is apparent to me now
Someday, someone will leave you
The same fate will transpire to you
And I know you'll feel the same
And you too will comprehend my feelings of agony and heartbreak
You'll mark it down to memory
You will choose to cherish it as a fleeting recollection
And the dream that never came
Our hoped-for future never materialized
Well there are no answers given
No explanation for the failure of our relationship is provided
When love is just a game
Relationships can be a mere performance with no real depth
You never wanted me, babe
The truth is you were never into me from the start
And now I feel the same
And now I'm aware of it
Contributed by Lucy P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.