Henry was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, but grew up in the Detroit area where he met Melanie Ciccone, Madonna's sister, whom he married in 1987. In 1985 he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he played at small clubs. His debut album Talk of Heaven came out in 1986. He signed to A&M Records and released two albums, Murder of Crows (1989) and Shuffletown (1990)
After Henry and his wife moved to Los Angeles in 1990, he left A&M in 1992 to join the independent label Mammoth, located in North Carolina. He released Short Man's Room and Kindness of the World, on which members of the Jayhawks provided instrumental backing.
In the mid-1990s Henry decided "to do something decidedly more eclectic" instead of continuing with country-rock. He turned to producer Patrick McCarthy, in making his next album Trampoline (1996). Trampoline also employed metal guitarist Page Hamilton, who demonstrated his own eagerness to stretch by collaborating on the album.
Asked to contribute a song to a benefit album for singer Vic Chesnutt in 1996, Henry also collaborated with his famous sister-in-law on a cover of Chesnutt's "Guilty by Association" (Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, The Songs of Vic Chesnutt, 1996).
In 1999 Henry released the experimental album Fuse with trip hop shadings. His eighth album, Scar, followed in 2001. The band on the record consisted mainly of jazz musicians (Marc Ribot, Brian Blade and Brad Mehldau among others) and Jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman guesting on the track "Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation".
In 2001, Henry sang on the song "Alleluia" from Julia Fordham's album, Concrete Love. His self-produced album Tiny Voices appeared on Epitaph's Anti label in 2003.
Henry produced Teddy Thompson's 2000 album Teddy Thompson, a critically acclaimed album from the son of British folk legends, Linda Thompson and Richard Thompson. Henry also produced Solomon Burke's 2002 album Don't Give Up On Me, which won Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards. 2005 releases produced by Henry include Ani DiFranco's Knuckle Down, Aimee Mann's 1970s concept album The Forgotten Arm, and Bettye LaVette's I've Got My Own Hell to Raise.
He also produced the multi-artist album I Believe to My Soul, which featured Allen Toussaint, Mavis Staples, Ann Peebles, Irma Thomas and Billy Preston.
In 2006, Henry teamed with Toussaint, producing his collaborative album with Elvis Costello, The River in Reverse.
In September of 2006, Henry and his longtime hero Loudon Wainwright III began composing the music for the Judd Apatow movie Knocked Up. Snippets of instrumentals were used as background score for the film, but the full versions of the songs make up Wainwright's 2007 album Strange Weirdos. Henry produced Mary Gauthier's 2007 album Between Daylight and Dark.
Henry's 10th album, "Civilians," was released in 2007 on the Anti label. His 11th album, Blood From Stars, followed in 2009, and his 12th, Reverie, was released in 2011.
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Bellwether
Joe Henry Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Climb that hill and look out across
Climb that hill and look out across
A long ways off from here
I'm going to dig my well from the bottom to the top
Dig my well from the bottom to the top
Dig my well from the bottom to the top
I'm gonna change my name 'til it rings a bell
Change my name 'til it rings a bell
Change my name 'til it rings a bell
A long ways off from here
I'm gonna leave my shame where I make my bed
Leave my shame where I make my bed
Leave my shame where I make my bed
Keep it like a pillow underneath my head.
I'm gonna carry your letter close by my side
Carry carry your letter close by my side
Carry your letter close by my side
A long ways off from here
And when the story gets better I'm gonna climb inside
When the story gets better I'm gonna climb inside
When the story gets better I'm gonna climb inside
A long ways off from here
The song Bellwether by Joe Henry is a poetic expression of the journey of self-discovery and finding one's place in the world. The lyrics describe the singer's determination to climb a hill to gain a more expansive perspective on life. This climb is symbolic of the attempt to rise above the toughness of life's obstacles and seek clarity about one's place in the world. The repetition of the phrase "A long ways off from here" emphasizes the distance that the singer must traverse to find peace and purpose in life.
The subsequent lines shift to a more introspective and personal tone. The singer declares that he intends to "dig his well from the bottom to the top," which represents the desire to excavate one's potential entirely. Digging a well from the bottom up symbolically implies that one must start from the core of oneself, understanding what roots one's existence and identity, and grow upward, crafting and moulding oneself into a person of substance.
The singer then decides to change his name, either literally or metaphorically, until it resonates with his core identity. The following line, "I'm gonna leave my shame where I make my bed," expresses the desire to leave past mistakes and negative experiences where they belong and move forward unencumbered by these issues. Finally, the last two lines express the singer's determination to carry someone else's letter close to his heart, indicating his desire to connect meaningfully with someone else.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm going to climb that hill and look out across
I plan to go up to the top of the hill and observe the sight from there, which is far from where we are.
I'm going to dig my well from the bottom to the top
I'll dig a well from the ground upwards, a long distance away from here.
I'm gonna change my name 'til it rings a bell
I'll alter my name till the point it becomes familiar to as many people as possible, even if it's far away from where we are right now.
I'm gonna leave my shame where I make my bed, keep it like a pillow underneath my head.
I'm going to leave my disgrace in the place where I sleep, and carry it with me like a pillow to remind me of the past sins.
I'm gonna carry your letter close by my side
I'll hold your note close to me so that it's safe and with me even if I go far away from here.
And when the story gets better I'm gonna climb inside
When the account improves, I'm going to become a part of it, even though it's a long distance away from where we are at the moment.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: JOSEPH LEE HENRY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind