During the late 1950s, Crosby was a member of a local Oneonta teen band called The Tones. The band traveled to Philadelphia to audition for Dick Clark's "American Bandstand", but were turned down. Members of the band found Dick Clark's house and were able to get a recommendation to audition at New York City's Baton Records through the company's lead producer Sol Rabinowitz. The band was given a recording contract, but the studio wanted a quintet backed by studio musicians, which left Crosby and another member out of their recordings.
After high school, Crosby joined the National Guard, but his thirst for adventure led him to go AWOL and roam the country busking for a living in areas like New Orleans, Texas, Florida, and New York. He played mostly ukulele until Harriet Ottenheimer, one of the founders of The Quorum, got him settled on a guitar in 1963. He adopted his stage name "Jerry Jeff Walker" in 1966. He spent his early folk music days in Greenwich Village in the mid 1960s. He co-founded a band with Bob Bruno in the late 1960s called Circus Maximus that put out two albums one with the popular west coast hit "Wind", but Bruno's interest in jazz apparently diverged from Walker's interest in folk music. Walker thus resumed his solo career and recorded the seminal album "Mr. Bojangles" with the help of David Bromberg and other influential Atlantic recording artists. He settled in Austin, Texas, in the 1970s associating mainly with the country-rock outlaw scene that included artists such as Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Waylon Jennings, and Townes Van Zandt.
"Mr. Bojangles" (written by Walker) is perhaps his most well-known and most-often covered song. It was about an obscure alcoholic but talented tap-dancing drifter, (not the famous stage and movie dancer Bill Robinson, as usually assumed). Bojangles is thought to have been a folk character who entertained informally in the south of the US and California, and some say he might have been one of the most gifted natural dancers ever. Authentic reports of him exist from the 1920s through about 1965. Artists from Nina Simone to Bob Dylan, Philip Glass to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, have covered the song. Walker has also recorded songs written by others such as "LA Freeway" (Guy Clark), and "Up Against the Wall Red Neck Mother" (Ray Wylie Hubbard).
A string of records for MCA and Elektra followed Jerry Jeff's move to Austin, before he gave up on the mainstream music business and formed his own independent record label. Tried & True Music was founded in 1986, with his wife Susan as President and manager. Susan also founded Goodknight Music as his management company and Tried & True Artists for his bookings. A series of increasingly autobiographical records followed under the Tried & True imprint. Tried & True also sells his autobiography called "Gypsy Songman". In 2004, Jerry Jeff released his first DVD of songs from his past as performed in an intimate setting in Austin, TX.
He interpreted the songs of others like Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, Keith Sykes, Paul Siebel, Bob Dylan, Todd Snider and even a rodeo clown named Billy Jim Baker.
His son, Django Walker, is also a musician. In addition to his residence in Austin, Walker had a retreat on Ambergris Caye in Belize where he recorded his "Cowboy Boots and Bathing Suits" album in 1998.
Members of his band varied over the years. The Lost Gonzo Band and the Gonzo Compadres have backed him in the past. Key members of his band included Craig Hillis - guitarist and arranger on Viva Terlingua, John Inmon, Freddy Krc, Gary P. Nunn, Bob Livingston, Bobby Rambo, Mitch Watkins, Steve Samuel, David Bromberg and others.
Fading Lady
Jerry Jeff Walker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
count all the shoes beneath your bed
and while your counting all those things in your head
try and wrest the sorrow from your face
when you were young you courted
all the pretty boys
and laughed aloud with ones they knew
and thought just like them too
and now you wonder what's become of you
[CHORUS]
when you chose one to be your husband for your life
you weighed his good point by his gain
his promised security was fulfilled and you felt fine
now in your age those mellow years won't sustain
[CHORUS]
now for imagination
where you seek out the one
who live a life of dreams they build
you have no gifts to share
you've nothing for no one
so just watch the colors fade as you start to wilt
[CHORUS]
The song "Fading Lady" by Jerry Jeff Walker is a reflection on aging and the emotions that come with it. The lyrics suggest that the woman being described has lived a life of materialism and perhaps even superficiality, as evidenced by the counting of her items of jewelry, lace, and shoes. However, as the years have gone by, the woman seems to have lost her sense of self and her identity. She used to court pretty boys, laugh and socialize with them, and even gave up her own thoughts and personality to fit in with them. Now, in her old age, she seems lost and forgotten, wondering what has become of her.
The chorus of the song paints a picture of a life that didn't turn out quite as planned: "Fading lady, don't your dreams all look so real?/ Seems that maybe, life's not quite the deal we thought we'd steal." This suggests that the woman had dreams and aspirations that didn't quite come to fruition, and now she is left to ponder what could have been. The end of the song seems to suggest that she has given up on those dreams, and that there is no longer anything to look forward to or work towards.
Overall, "Fading Lady" is a poignant song about the emotions that come with aging, and the realization that life doesn't always turn out the way we expect it to.
Line by Line Meaning
count all your jewelry and your lace
Take inventory of all your material possessions
count all the shoes beneath your bed
Take inventory of all your shoes
and while your counting all those things in your head
Mentally keep track of your possessions while counting them
try and wrest the sorrow from your face
Attempt to remove the sadness from your expression
when you were young you courted
When you were young, you dated
all the pretty boys
You dated attractive men
and laughed aloud with ones they knew
You joyfully interacted with the people your dates knew
and soon you walked and talked
You began to emulate the men you were dating
and thought just like them too
Your thoughts became aligned with theirs
and now you wonder what's become of you
You now question where life has taken you
when you chose one to be your husband for your life
When you selected a husband for a lifelong partnership
you weighed his good point by his gain
You evaluated his positive attributes based on their benefits
his promised security was fulfilled and you felt fine
You felt content because he provided you with promised security
now in your age those mellow years won't sustain
As you have aged, the mellow years no longer sustain you
now for imagination
Now it's time for imagination
where you seek out the one
You search for that one person
who live a life of dreams they build
Who lives a life of constructing dreams
you have no gifts to share
You have nothing to offer
you've nothing for no one
You have nothing for anyone
so just watch the colors fade as you start to wilt
Watch as life loses its vibrancy with your declining health
[CHORUS]
Refrains from the song
Contributed by Nicholas I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.