1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:22,196 Speaker 1: Pushkin In Nashville, Tennessee. There's a songwriter named Bobby Braddock. 2 00:00:22,796 --> 00:00:26,316 Speaker 1: He's in his seventies, maybe five foot seven, bald head, 3 00:00:26,836 --> 00:00:29,596 Speaker 1: scruffy beard, wiry, like if you messed with them in 4 00:00:29,676 --> 00:00:33,236 Speaker 1: a bar, you'd probably lose. The most striking thing about 5 00:00:33,276 --> 00:00:35,916 Speaker 1: him is his eyes, which are the palest and most 6 00:00:35,916 --> 00:00:39,676 Speaker 1: intense shade of blue. He wears sunglasses a lot, and 7 00:00:39,716 --> 00:00:41,756 Speaker 1: it's almost as if he needs to protect the world 8 00:00:41,796 --> 00:00:45,796 Speaker 1: from that look there. I met him on a music 9 00:00:45,876 --> 00:00:48,636 Speaker 1: row in Nashville. We had lunch, and then we sat 10 00:00:48,676 --> 00:00:50,676 Speaker 1: in one of the writer's rooms in the Sony Building, 11 00:00:51,196 --> 00:00:54,676 Speaker 1: piano in the corner, couches to one side, and he 12 00:00:54,756 --> 00:00:57,196 Speaker 1: talked about his education in the music business. 13 00:00:57,596 --> 00:01:00,196 Speaker 2: I think I always had the reputation as being kind 14 00:01:00,196 --> 00:01:03,036 Speaker 2: of a quirky writer, maybe a little left field. 15 00:01:03,956 --> 00:01:06,276 Speaker 1: The turning point in Braddock's career was a song you've 16 00:01:06,316 --> 00:01:09,276 Speaker 1: probably heard of. It was performed by Tammy Whyne that 17 00:01:09,676 --> 00:01:12,076 Speaker 1: back when she was the reigning Queen of country music 18 00:01:12,476 --> 00:01:15,316 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, about a mom who had to spell 19 00:01:15,356 --> 00:01:18,796 Speaker 1: out the word d I v O rcee so her 20 00:01:18,876 --> 00:01:21,036 Speaker 1: kids wouldn't know their parents were splitting up. 21 00:01:21,636 --> 00:01:22,876 Speaker 2: So D w r C. 22 00:01:23,796 --> 00:01:25,316 Speaker 1: Yeah. 23 00:01:25,556 --> 00:01:28,876 Speaker 2: I wrote this, did a demo on it, and no tikers, 24 00:01:28,956 --> 00:01:30,836 Speaker 2: nobody did it. Nobody would recorded. 25 00:01:31,796 --> 00:01:34,556 Speaker 1: D I v O RCE was a song with a gimmick. 26 00:01:35,196 --> 00:01:38,116 Speaker 1: Braddick did a lot of gimmicky songs back then. No 27 00:01:38,156 --> 00:01:41,236 Speaker 1: one wanted this one. So Braddick went to a friend 28 00:01:41,276 --> 00:01:43,436 Speaker 1: and longtime collaborator, Curly Putman. 29 00:01:43,876 --> 00:01:46,556 Speaker 2: So I said, well, why haf nobody recording? He said, 30 00:01:46,836 --> 00:01:51,116 Speaker 2: I think around the important part of your song, said, 31 00:01:51,316 --> 00:01:54,676 Speaker 2: sad song, and your melodies on that part is too happy. 32 00:01:56,716 --> 00:02:08,796 Speaker 2: What I was doing was, oh, stop this a little 33 00:02:08,796 --> 00:02:11,636 Speaker 2: bit like a like a soap commercial. I said, well, 34 00:02:11,676 --> 00:02:15,076 Speaker 2: what would you do? And he gets a guitar and 35 00:02:15,076 --> 00:02:19,716 Speaker 2: he had this really mournful singing style. Tammy Whnette was 36 00:02:19,756 --> 00:02:22,156 Speaker 2: a big fan of Curly singing. She left her singing 37 00:02:22,196 --> 00:02:25,236 Speaker 2: because he had. I mean, he just you singing. It 38 00:02:25,356 --> 00:02:30,196 Speaker 2: was just so sad. It gives a guitar. Oh wish 39 00:02:30,916 --> 00:02:40,756 Speaker 2: we get started this. So I said, just get your guitar. 40 00:02:40,916 --> 00:02:42,876 Speaker 2: Let's let's put it on tape like that, you know. 41 00:02:43,836 --> 00:02:45,996 Speaker 1: D I v O r C went to number one. 42 00:02:46,396 --> 00:02:49,796 Speaker 1: It was Bobby Braddock's first great exercise in how to 43 00:02:49,796 --> 00:02:54,236 Speaker 1: make people cry and From then on, things just got sadder. 44 00:02:58,476 --> 00:03:02,116 Speaker 1: My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, 45 00:03:02,356 --> 00:03:11,556 Speaker 1: my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood. This episode is 46 00:03:11,596 --> 00:03:14,716 Speaker 1: about something that has never made sense to me. Maybe 47 00:03:14,716 --> 00:03:17,676 Speaker 1: it's because I'm a Canadian, or maybe Americans puzzle about 48 00:03:17,676 --> 00:03:20,876 Speaker 1: this too. I'm talking about the bright line that divides 49 00:03:20,916 --> 00:03:25,876 Speaker 1: American society, not the color line or the ideological line. 50 00:03:26,996 --> 00:03:35,796 Speaker 1: I'm talking about the sad song rie. I don't know 51 00:03:35,836 --> 00:03:38,796 Speaker 1: why people don't talk about this more because it's weird. 52 00:03:39,676 --> 00:03:42,276 Speaker 1: For the sake of argument, let's use the rock magazine 53 00:03:42,356 --> 00:03:44,556 Speaker 1: Rolling Stone's list of the best songs of all time, 54 00:03:44,796 --> 00:03:49,116 Speaker 1: the top fifty. These are the critics choices. Hotel California 55 00:03:49,156 --> 00:03:52,116 Speaker 1: by the Eagles comes in up forty nine, which, as 56 00:03:52,116 --> 00:03:54,276 Speaker 1: far as I can tell, is a song about drugs. 57 00:03:54,876 --> 00:03:59,316 Speaker 1: Toutty Fruity by Little Richard at forty three Tuty Fruity, 58 00:03:59,876 --> 00:04:03,676 Speaker 1: which I remind you has as its signature lyric tooty fruity, 59 00:04:03,756 --> 00:04:07,636 Speaker 1: oh ruddy touty fruity, Oh rudy touty fruity, oh rudy 60 00:04:08,116 --> 00:04:11,716 Speaker 1: touty fruity, O rudy wop bop alo Bop a Loop, 61 00:04:11,796 --> 00:04:17,196 Speaker 1: Bam boom, there's Dancing in the Street at forty light, 62 00:04:17,276 --> 00:04:21,716 Speaker 1: My Fire Be My Baby, Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit, 63 00:04:22,236 --> 00:04:25,436 Speaker 1: Derek and the dominoes Leyla. There are songs about wanting 64 00:04:25,476 --> 00:04:29,796 Speaker 1: to have sex, songs about having sex, songs about getting high, 65 00:04:29,796 --> 00:04:33,276 Speaker 1: presumably after having sex. Number one song on the list 66 00:04:33,636 --> 00:04:36,996 Speaker 1: like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan. Ah, You've gone 67 00:04:36,996 --> 00:04:39,956 Speaker 1: to the finest schools, all right, miss Lonely, But you 68 00:04:40,116 --> 00:04:43,116 Speaker 1: know you only used to get juiced in it. Nobody's 69 00:04:43,116 --> 00:04:44,876 Speaker 1: ever taught you how to live out on the street, 70 00:04:45,276 --> 00:04:47,156 Speaker 1: and now you're gonna have to get used to it. 71 00:04:48,196 --> 00:04:50,196 Speaker 1: I think that's a song about someone who dropped out 72 00:04:50,196 --> 00:04:53,196 Speaker 1: of Harvard. The number one rock song of all time 73 00:04:53,516 --> 00:05:00,836 Speaker 1: is about dropping out of Harvard. In all of those 74 00:05:00,836 --> 00:05:05,476 Speaker 1: fifty songs, nobody dies after a long illness, no marriage disintegrates, 75 00:05:05,916 --> 00:05:08,876 Speaker 1: nobody's killed on a battlefield, no mother grieves for a 76 00:05:08,956 --> 00:05:12,596 Speaker 1: so on. The closest that any song in Rolling Stone's 77 00:05:12,636 --> 00:05:16,156 Speaker 1: list comes to being truly sad is Smoky Robinson's Tracks 78 00:05:16,156 --> 00:05:19,196 Speaker 1: of My Tears, which is first of all number fifty. 79 00:05:19,476 --> 00:05:21,236 Speaker 1: So they put the sad song at the bottom of 80 00:05:21,236 --> 00:05:24,156 Speaker 1: the list. And secondly, it's about a guy at a 81 00:05:24,196 --> 00:05:28,676 Speaker 1: party in their moments of greatest travail. The protagonists of 82 00:05:28,756 --> 00:05:33,156 Speaker 1: rock and roll's sad songs still get to go to parties. Now. 83 00:05:33,316 --> 00:05:36,396 Speaker 1: Just turn on a country music station, especially a traditional 84 00:05:36,436 --> 00:05:40,516 Speaker 1: country music station, and listen. It's like a different universe. 85 00:05:41,156 --> 00:05:44,316 Speaker 1: Marriage is going to hell, people staring into their shot 86 00:05:44,356 --> 00:05:47,516 Speaker 1: glass in a honky tonk, people dying young. If you 87 00:05:47,596 --> 00:05:52,116 Speaker 1: ever heard John Prine's Unwed Fathers, it's a devastating bit 88 00:05:52,156 --> 00:05:56,236 Speaker 1: of songwriting about a teenage mom fleeing town. He sings 89 00:05:56,276 --> 00:05:57,436 Speaker 1: it with his wife Rachel. 90 00:05:57,956 --> 00:06:02,716 Speaker 3: Also Wario Bam smoking Mantain. 91 00:06:05,276 --> 00:06:10,596 Speaker 4: She bow. Now all the bad. 92 00:06:12,236 --> 00:06:20,716 Speaker 5: Your daddy meant to hurt you ever, You just don't 93 00:06:21,116 --> 00:06:24,676 Speaker 5: live here, but you got his eyes. 94 00:06:27,596 --> 00:06:31,156 Speaker 1: Those last two lines, your daddy never meant to hurt 95 00:06:31,196 --> 00:06:33,916 Speaker 1: you ever. He just don't live here, but you've got 96 00:06:33,956 --> 00:06:34,476 Speaker 1: his eyes. 97 00:06:34,996 --> 00:06:43,596 Speaker 6: That's brutal, black bad dream all on. We fob. 98 00:06:45,596 --> 00:06:48,676 Speaker 1: One half of the country, the rock music part, wants 99 00:06:48,756 --> 00:06:51,796 Speaker 1: their music to be hymns to extra version. The other 100 00:06:51,836 --> 00:06:54,996 Speaker 1: half wants to talk about real life dramas and have 101 00:06:55,036 --> 00:06:58,716 Speaker 1: a good cry. I don't get it, by the way, 102 00:06:58,996 --> 00:07:01,596 Speaker 1: you know who wrote that unwed Father's Song with John Prine, 103 00:07:02,836 --> 00:07:10,676 Speaker 1: Bobby Braddock, or maybe you've heard this another classic recorded 104 00:07:10,676 --> 00:07:13,676 Speaker 1: by Tammy Whynett Golden. 105 00:07:13,396 --> 00:07:20,276 Speaker 3: Word with a Long Time Long pritaside. 106 00:07:21,156 --> 00:07:27,916 Speaker 1: Loud long bus Golden Ring. It follows a couple from 107 00:07:27,956 --> 00:07:30,636 Speaker 1: first love to the breakup of their marriage by tracing 108 00:07:30,676 --> 00:07:34,516 Speaker 1: the journey of their wedding ring from pawnshop to pawnshop. 109 00:07:35,316 --> 00:07:40,596 Speaker 1: It's a weeper who wrote it, Bobby Braddock, and today, 110 00:07:41,196 --> 00:07:44,396 Speaker 1: forty years after he wrote it, Braddock is still mad 111 00:07:44,396 --> 00:07:47,156 Speaker 1: about a one word change made by the song's producer, 112 00:07:47,236 --> 00:07:51,116 Speaker 1: Billy Cheryl, because that made his song one crucial degree 113 00:07:51,276 --> 00:07:51,796 Speaker 1: less sad. 114 00:07:52,476 --> 00:07:53,116 Speaker 7: But we had. 115 00:07:53,956 --> 00:07:55,516 Speaker 2: He says, you won't admit it, but I know you're 116 00:07:55,556 --> 00:07:59,516 Speaker 2: running around and Billy changed it too. He says, you 117 00:07:59,556 --> 00:08:02,316 Speaker 2: won't admit it, but I know you're leaving town. That's 118 00:08:02,396 --> 00:08:04,756 Speaker 2: not as that's not as powerful as you're running around. 119 00:08:05,556 --> 00:08:08,996 Speaker 7: He says, you won't admit it, but I know you 120 00:08:09,316 --> 00:08:10,276 Speaker 7: leave in town. 121 00:08:11,116 --> 00:08:13,916 Speaker 3: She says one thanks for circ I. 122 00:08:13,956 --> 00:08:16,556 Speaker 8: Don't love you anymore. 123 00:08:16,636 --> 00:08:20,276 Speaker 3: As throws down the ring as she walks out the door. 124 00:08:21,516 --> 00:08:23,836 Speaker 2: I think country music is supposed to be about real life, 125 00:08:23,916 --> 00:08:25,636 Speaker 2: you know, And I try to reflect that in bout 126 00:08:25,636 --> 00:08:26,116 Speaker 2: all Right. 127 00:08:26,916 --> 00:08:39,076 Speaker 1: Gold Ring, which brings us to maybe the greatest country 128 00:08:39,116 --> 00:08:42,436 Speaker 1: song of all time, certainly the saddest country song of 129 00:08:42,476 --> 00:08:44,636 Speaker 1: all time, the song that made me get on a 130 00:08:44,716 --> 00:08:47,716 Speaker 1: plane and go to Nashville. It was recorded by the 131 00:08:47,756 --> 00:08:50,516 Speaker 1: great George Jones, one of the half dozen or so 132 00:08:50,716 --> 00:08:53,996 Speaker 1: most iconic figures in the history of country music. You 133 00:08:54,196 --> 00:08:57,676 Speaker 1: just heard him singing in Golden Ring. Jones was famously 134 00:08:57,756 --> 00:09:00,756 Speaker 1: the husband of Tammy Wynett for a time, a hard living, 135 00:09:00,916 --> 00:09:04,876 Speaker 1: dissolute megastar. Once, in the midst of an epic bender, 136 00:09:05,436 --> 00:09:08,116 Speaker 1: jones family took his keys away, so he got on 137 00:09:08,236 --> 00:09:10,876 Speaker 1: his writing mower and drove eight miles to the liquor 138 00:09:10,916 --> 00:09:13,436 Speaker 1: store to get some whiskey. This was a man who 139 00:09:13,476 --> 00:09:16,276 Speaker 1: could pour his fractured heart into his music like no 140 00:09:16,356 --> 00:09:20,796 Speaker 1: one else. A half dozen times in his career, Jones 141 00:09:20,836 --> 00:09:24,116 Speaker 1: found a song truly worthy of his talents, but it 142 00:09:24,276 --> 00:09:27,716 Speaker 1: never got better than he stopped loving her. Today, I 143 00:09:27,796 --> 00:09:30,596 Speaker 1: still remember when I first heard that song, and from 144 00:09:30,636 --> 00:09:33,916 Speaker 1: the day I started thinking about this episode, I haven't 145 00:09:33,916 --> 00:09:35,196 Speaker 1: been able to get it out of my head. 146 00:09:35,916 --> 00:09:43,556 Speaker 3: He said, I'll love you till I die. She told him, 147 00:09:43,756 --> 00:09:56,476 Speaker 3: you forgetting time As the years went slowly by, she 148 00:09:56,676 --> 00:09:57,916 Speaker 3: still prayed. 149 00:09:57,716 --> 00:09:59,516 Speaker 6: Up all his his mind. 150 00:10:02,556 --> 00:10:05,636 Speaker 3: He kept her picture on his wall. 151 00:10:07,236 --> 00:10:08,876 Speaker 1: Do I need to tell you who wrote that song? 152 00:10:09,796 --> 00:10:13,716 Speaker 1: Bobby Braddock? Bobby Braddock is the king of tears. 153 00:10:15,996 --> 00:10:24,316 Speaker 3: But he still loved him through it all, hoping she'd 154 00:10:24,436 --> 00:10:25,836 Speaker 3: come back again. 155 00:10:27,796 --> 00:10:32,956 Speaker 1: Oh man. One of the things that got me interested 156 00:10:32,996 --> 00:10:35,676 Speaker 1: in sad songs was a story my sister in law, 157 00:10:35,756 --> 00:10:37,876 Speaker 1: Bev told me. She and my brother live in the 158 00:10:37,916 --> 00:10:41,156 Speaker 1: same area. I grew up in Waterloo County in southern Ontario, 159 00:10:41,916 --> 00:10:44,316 Speaker 1: and a while ago she went to a performance by 160 00:10:44,396 --> 00:10:48,636 Speaker 1: a local chamber choir thirty singers. They sang a cantata 161 00:10:48,716 --> 00:10:53,156 Speaker 1: called Annalise by the British composer James Whitbourne, a choral 162 00:10:53,236 --> 00:10:56,836 Speaker 1: composition which puts the words of n Frank's diary to music. 163 00:10:57,876 --> 00:10:59,276 Speaker 1: I know this seems like a little bit of a 164 00:10:59,356 --> 00:11:02,836 Speaker 1: digression from country music, but it's a really useful case 165 00:11:02,876 --> 00:11:07,636 Speaker 1: study in understanding why some songs make us cry. The 166 00:11:07,756 --> 00:11:10,596 Speaker 1: performance Bev told me about was on a Sunday afternoon, 167 00:11:11,116 --> 00:11:13,436 Speaker 1: a free performance at the Public Library, which is a 168 00:11:13,556 --> 00:11:17,276 Speaker 1: very utilitarian, very nineteen sixties building on Queen Street in 169 00:11:17,316 --> 00:11:21,556 Speaker 1: downtown Kitchener. I've been there many times. Waaldwall carpet, that 170 00:11:21,716 --> 00:11:24,516 Speaker 1: old books library smell, which I have to admit, I love. 171 00:11:25,516 --> 00:11:26,476 Speaker 1: How many people are there. 172 00:11:26,716 --> 00:11:29,596 Speaker 9: It's in their main reading room. They've moved around all 173 00:11:29,636 --> 00:11:35,596 Speaker 9: the tables and one hundred one hundred and twentieth full, 174 00:11:35,676 --> 00:11:36,836 Speaker 9: pretty much standing room only. 175 00:11:37,476 --> 00:11:39,436 Speaker 1: Why light? 176 00:11:48,356 --> 00:11:52,116 Speaker 9: As they're singing, I think, why is that also not singing? 177 00:11:53,716 --> 00:11:56,316 Speaker 9: And then I look over and I think somebody else 178 00:11:56,436 --> 00:11:58,476 Speaker 9: as a Frian, I'm not singing. That's odd because everybody 179 00:11:58,516 --> 00:11:59,036 Speaker 9: else in their. 180 00:11:58,956 --> 00:11:59,636 Speaker 10: Parts is singing. 181 00:12:00,876 --> 00:12:03,916 Speaker 9: And I realized they were crying and they couldn't sing. 182 00:12:04,956 --> 00:12:07,756 Speaker 1: Bev says, she cried pretty much through the entire performance. 183 00:12:08,396 --> 00:12:11,036 Speaker 1: She was looking straight ahead because she didn't want people 184 00:12:11,076 --> 00:12:13,636 Speaker 1: to see she was crying. But it didn't matter because 185 00:12:13,676 --> 00:12:17,716 Speaker 1: everyone was crying. When the performance was over, Bev approached 186 00:12:17,756 --> 00:12:20,596 Speaker 1: the stage to talk to the soloist, the woman singing 187 00:12:20,636 --> 00:12:21,916 Speaker 1: Anne Frank's words. 188 00:12:22,196 --> 00:12:25,196 Speaker 9: I just went up to her afterwards and congratulated her 189 00:12:25,276 --> 00:12:27,596 Speaker 9: on the beauty of the piece then and her singing, 190 00:12:27,676 --> 00:12:30,556 Speaker 9: And I said, and how did you manage to sing 191 00:12:31,076 --> 00:12:36,356 Speaker 9: without crying? And she said, well, I couldn't look at Mark, 192 00:12:37,276 --> 00:12:40,436 Speaker 9: the conductor, because he was wiping tears from his eyes, 193 00:12:40,956 --> 00:12:42,836 Speaker 9: and I had my back to the choir, so that 194 00:12:43,036 --> 00:12:45,316 Speaker 9: was good. And I didn't look at anybody in the 195 00:12:45,396 --> 00:12:48,316 Speaker 9: audience because they were crying. So I just looked up 196 00:12:48,356 --> 00:12:50,756 Speaker 9: in the middle distance and I sang, it was a 197 00:12:50,796 --> 00:12:52,076 Speaker 9: good thing. I hadn't memorized. 198 00:12:53,356 --> 00:12:55,316 Speaker 1: I was at home in Canada when Bev told me 199 00:12:55,356 --> 00:12:58,316 Speaker 1: that story, so I called up Mark, the conductor, and 200 00:12:58,436 --> 00:13:01,996 Speaker 1: the soloist, whose name is Natasha. They're actually husband and wife. 201 00:13:02,516 --> 00:13:04,316 Speaker 1: They only live a few minutes away from my brother, 202 00:13:04,916 --> 00:13:07,796 Speaker 1: so they came over. Mark sat at the piano in 203 00:13:07,876 --> 00:13:10,676 Speaker 1: the living room and Natasha stood behind him, and they 204 00:13:10,796 --> 00:13:13,436 Speaker 1: performed one of the pieces from Analyst they did that 205 00:13:13,556 --> 00:13:14,316 Speaker 1: day in the library. 206 00:13:14,596 --> 00:13:18,636 Speaker 10: This is the last movement. It's called Anne's Meditation. I 207 00:13:18,716 --> 00:13:21,076 Speaker 10: see the world, I see the world being slowly turned 208 00:13:21,756 --> 00:13:22,876 Speaker 10: turned into a wilderness. 209 00:13:54,356 --> 00:13:57,436 Speaker 1: Now I realized, this is a crazy question, because we're 210 00:13:57,436 --> 00:13:59,516 Speaker 1: hearing a piece based on the diary of Anne Frank, 211 00:13:59,916 --> 00:14:02,356 Speaker 1: which is one of the most heartbreaking stories from one 212 00:14:02,396 --> 00:14:05,796 Speaker 1: of the most horrific moments in recent history. But why 213 00:14:05,996 --> 00:14:19,796 Speaker 1: was everyone crying that day at the Kitchener library. The 214 00:14:19,916 --> 00:14:23,556 Speaker 1: obvious reason is that the music is beautiful, so is 215 00:14:23,636 --> 00:14:28,876 Speaker 1: Natasha's singing. The performance is also authentic. There's nothing contrived 216 00:14:28,916 --> 00:14:32,196 Speaker 1: about it. It wasn't at Carnegie Hall. People weren't wearing 217 00:14:32,276 --> 00:14:35,316 Speaker 1: suits and evening gowns. They were at the Kitchener Library 218 00:14:35,676 --> 00:14:38,236 Speaker 1: and there's families getting books and kids running around, and 219 00:14:38,276 --> 00:14:40,836 Speaker 1: everyone's on stacking chairs with the tables pushed off to 220 00:14:40,876 --> 00:14:45,556 Speaker 1: the side. But here's the most important thing. Annalise is 221 00:14:45,996 --> 00:14:50,236 Speaker 1: specific It's a cantata about the actual experiences of a 222 00:14:50,316 --> 00:15:01,956 Speaker 1: real person. In her own words, Bev says that when 223 00:15:02,036 --> 00:15:05,596 Speaker 1: she cried, she started thinking about her own family, Mennonites, 224 00:15:05,596 --> 00:15:09,636 Speaker 1: who escaped terrible persecution in Russia. Natasha's says that as 225 00:15:09,676 --> 00:15:12,236 Speaker 1: she sang about twelve year old an Frank, she was 226 00:15:12,316 --> 00:15:14,876 Speaker 1: thinking about her own daughter, who was ten and who 227 00:15:14,956 --> 00:15:19,676 Speaker 1: was sitting right next to Bev in the audience. Beauty 228 00:15:19,876 --> 00:15:23,596 Speaker 1: and authenticity can create a mood. They set the stage. 229 00:15:24,116 --> 00:15:26,396 Speaker 1: But I think the thing that pushes us over the 230 00:15:26,476 --> 00:15:31,396 Speaker 1: top into tears is details. We cry when melancholy collides 231 00:15:31,676 --> 00:15:36,996 Speaker 1: with specificity, and specificity is not something every genre does well. 232 00:15:40,636 --> 00:15:54,156 Speaker 1: Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones, written by Keith Richards 233 00:15:54,196 --> 00:15:57,116 Speaker 1: and Mick Jagger, It's a song about a conversation a 234 00:15:57,196 --> 00:16:00,156 Speaker 1: man is having with a silent, suffering loved one. The 235 00:16:00,276 --> 00:16:03,236 Speaker 1: story goes that Mick Jagger dreamt up the verses while 236 00:16:03,276 --> 00:16:05,956 Speaker 1: sitting at the bedside of his then girlfriend Mary and Faithful, 237 00:16:06,196 --> 00:16:07,796 Speaker 1: as she recovered from an overdose. 238 00:16:08,156 --> 00:16:20,236 Speaker 6: Oh suffer, Bill, I watched. 239 00:16:19,996 --> 00:16:23,036 Speaker 1: You suffer a dull, aching pain. Now you've decided to 240 00:16:23,116 --> 00:16:26,156 Speaker 1: show me the same. No sweeping exit or off stage 241 00:16:26,236 --> 00:16:29,116 Speaker 1: lines could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind. 242 00:16:30,036 --> 00:16:34,276 Speaker 1: Wild Horses couldn't drag me away. Wild Wild Horses couldn't 243 00:16:34,316 --> 00:16:40,156 Speaker 1: drag me away. Wild Horses was recorded first by the 244 00:16:40,236 --> 00:16:44,916 Speaker 1: legendary Graham Parsons. Not long afterwards, Parsons died of an overdose, 245 00:16:45,356 --> 00:16:48,356 Speaker 1: and his friend in protege, the country music singer Emmy 246 00:16:48,356 --> 00:16:51,236 Speaker 1: Lou Harris, made a song in his memory. She wrote 247 00:16:51,236 --> 00:16:54,956 Speaker 1: it with Bill Danoff. It's called from Boulder to Birmingham. 248 00:16:57,396 --> 00:17:04,156 Speaker 6: I don't want a hee song. I got on the 249 00:17:04,356 --> 00:17:12,156 Speaker 6: zepplin just a flow damn nods below me. 250 00:17:13,796 --> 00:17:15,596 Speaker 9: But all that you can. 251 00:17:15,716 --> 00:17:19,436 Speaker 6: Show me is a premium. 252 00:17:18,916 --> 00:17:26,956 Speaker 5: Mascuy, And I don't only hear he said. 253 00:17:27,516 --> 00:17:28,156 Speaker 9: Story. 254 00:17:28,956 --> 00:17:31,396 Speaker 1: Someone who has suffered a terrible loss has gotten on 255 00:17:31,436 --> 00:17:34,476 Speaker 1: a plane and she's so numbed by grief that she 256 00:17:34,516 --> 00:17:36,276 Speaker 1: can no longer see those around her. 257 00:17:37,516 --> 00:17:38,556 Speaker 6: Blessed time. 258 00:17:38,796 --> 00:17:39,796 Speaker 7: I feel like this. 259 00:17:41,556 --> 00:17:45,116 Speaker 1: I was in the wilderness in. 260 00:17:45,276 --> 00:17:47,756 Speaker 9: The can was on FA. 261 00:17:50,716 --> 00:17:55,716 Speaker 1: From Boulder to Birmingham, and wildhorses are both beautiful melancholy. 262 00:17:56,396 --> 00:17:59,156 Speaker 1: They're about the same thing, the ties the living and 263 00:17:59,236 --> 00:18:02,676 Speaker 1: the healthy have to those in pain. But which is 264 00:18:02,756 --> 00:18:06,916 Speaker 1: the sadder song? I don't think there's any question. Wild 265 00:18:06,996 --> 00:18:11,956 Speaker 1: horses is generic. Listen to how it starts childhood. Living 266 00:18:12,076 --> 00:18:14,636 Speaker 1: is easy to do the things you wanted. I bought 267 00:18:14,676 --> 00:18:17,476 Speaker 1: them for you. Graceless lady, you know who I am. 268 00:18:17,916 --> 00:18:20,236 Speaker 1: You know I can't let you slide through my hands? 269 00:18:21,276 --> 00:18:25,796 Speaker 1: What's going on? Any idea? What is Mickey yammering on about? Now? 270 00:18:25,916 --> 00:18:28,876 Speaker 1: Compare that to the specificity of looking down from the 271 00:18:28,916 --> 00:18:32,316 Speaker 1: airplane and seeing nothing but prairie. Then standing on a 272 00:18:32,396 --> 00:18:34,676 Speaker 1: mountain and watching a canyon burn. 273 00:18:35,116 --> 00:18:43,516 Speaker 6: Was our rapsle in the coosm. 274 00:18:46,396 --> 00:18:47,636 Speaker 4: I would hold. 275 00:18:50,156 --> 00:18:58,436 Speaker 6: Any say, race away from all. 276 00:19:02,116 --> 00:19:05,796 Speaker 5: Act I could see. 277 00:19:09,716 --> 00:19:13,276 Speaker 1: First, she references the great black spiritual rock my soul 278 00:19:13,316 --> 00:19:16,476 Speaker 1: in the Bosom of Abraham. The Bosom of Abraham is 279 00:19:16,516 --> 00:19:20,436 Speaker 1: where the righteous dead go while awaiting judgment. Then she sings, 280 00:19:21,036 --> 00:19:23,356 Speaker 1: and I would also walk all the way from Boulder 281 00:19:23,516 --> 00:19:27,236 Speaker 1: to Birmingham. Now she's locating her grief. I would make 282 00:19:27,276 --> 00:19:31,476 Speaker 1: a pilgrimage from progressive, hippie liberal Remember this is nineteen 283 00:19:31,516 --> 00:19:35,836 Speaker 1: seventy three, dope smoking Colorado back to the repressive heart 284 00:19:35,916 --> 00:19:39,796 Speaker 1: of the Old South, just to see your face. Two 285 00:19:39,996 --> 00:19:44,356 Speaker 1: completely different specific images, each with its own set of 286 00:19:44,436 --> 00:19:48,196 Speaker 1: emotional triggers, and she's piled one on top of another. 287 00:19:49,876 --> 00:19:53,076 Speaker 1: Mark Vornan, the music director of the choir in my hometown, 288 00:19:53,516 --> 00:19:55,716 Speaker 1: says that there's a part in Annalise that does the 289 00:19:55,796 --> 00:19:57,796 Speaker 1: same thing. Anne is. 290 00:19:58,676 --> 00:20:01,356 Speaker 10: They're in hiding already, and she starts singing, and the 291 00:20:01,396 --> 00:20:04,156 Speaker 10: composer has set these words in kind of a style 292 00:20:04,356 --> 00:20:08,996 Speaker 10: of an American Sousa march, and so she's talking about 293 00:20:09,236 --> 00:20:11,316 Speaker 10: in the bathtub and being scrubbed in the bathtub, and 294 00:20:11,356 --> 00:20:14,956 Speaker 10: it's a SUSA we scrub, scrub, scrub ourselves in the 295 00:20:15,036 --> 00:20:19,636 Speaker 10: tin right, very happy and optimistic music. 296 00:20:23,836 --> 00:20:26,356 Speaker 1: And Frank in the bathtub to the tune of a 297 00:20:26,476 --> 00:20:29,996 Speaker 1: SUSA march with the horrors of the Holocaust outside her door. 298 00:20:30,836 --> 00:20:34,756 Speaker 1: Three absolutely concrete images in merciless combination. 299 00:20:35,196 --> 00:20:39,796 Speaker 10: It just floored me every time I heard it, because 300 00:20:39,796 --> 00:20:41,556 Speaker 10: it was so close to you know, our own daughter, 301 00:20:42,196 --> 00:20:44,636 Speaker 10: you know, to think that she would have to create 302 00:20:44,756 --> 00:20:48,156 Speaker 10: this kind of fiction in order to just get through 303 00:20:48,196 --> 00:20:48,476 Speaker 10: the day. 304 00:20:49,436 --> 00:20:52,116 Speaker 1: That's how you get tears. You make the story so 305 00:20:52,276 --> 00:20:55,276 Speaker 1: real and the details so sharp, and you add in 306 00:20:55,436 --> 00:20:59,876 Speaker 1: so many emotional triggers that the listener cannot escape. But 307 00:20:59,996 --> 00:21:03,196 Speaker 1: it's a risky thing to do, right if you aren't 308 00:21:03,196 --> 00:21:06,476 Speaker 1: a talented composer and you don't do a sensitive rendition 309 00:21:06,596 --> 00:21:10,116 Speaker 1: of those lyrics, they could fall flat, could seem forced, 310 00:21:10,236 --> 00:21:13,756 Speaker 1: even offensive. Far easier just to fall back on the 311 00:21:13,836 --> 00:21:18,676 Speaker 1: blend cliche that wild horses couldn't drag you away. Country 312 00:21:18,756 --> 00:21:22,636 Speaker 1: music makes people cry because it's not afraid to be specific. 313 00:21:25,556 --> 00:21:28,076 Speaker 8: You know, she came to see him one last time, 314 00:21:31,676 --> 00:21:39,556 Speaker 8: and we all wondered if she would, and it kept 315 00:21:39,636 --> 00:21:41,156 Speaker 8: running through my mind. 316 00:21:44,196 --> 00:21:44,836 Speaker 6: At this time. 317 00:21:57,396 --> 00:22:00,796 Speaker 1: Bobby Braddock was born in Auburndale, Florida, a little town 318 00:22:00,876 --> 00:22:04,796 Speaker 1: between Tampa and Orlando. His father grew Citrus. They were 319 00:22:04,876 --> 00:22:08,916 Speaker 1: Church of Christ, just about the most fundamentalist of fundamentalist Christians. 320 00:22:09,876 --> 00:22:13,076 Speaker 1: Braddock moved to Nashville in nineteen sixty four, just after 321 00:22:13,156 --> 00:22:16,036 Speaker 1: getting married to seek his fortune in the music business. 322 00:22:16,796 --> 00:22:19,116 Speaker 1: He wrote his memoirs a few years ago. It's called 323 00:22:19,316 --> 00:22:22,596 Speaker 1: A Life on Nashville's Music Row. I read it before 324 00:22:22,596 --> 00:22:24,796 Speaker 1: I went to see him, and the best way to 325 00:22:24,876 --> 00:22:28,716 Speaker 1: describe the book is that it's exhausting. I don't mean 326 00:22:28,756 --> 00:22:31,036 Speaker 1: that in a bad way, because I couldn't put it down. 327 00:22:31,516 --> 00:22:33,716 Speaker 1: But so much happens. 328 00:22:34,596 --> 00:22:40,356 Speaker 11: You've lived this incredibly tumultuous, emotionally tumultuous life. Yeah, And 329 00:22:40,516 --> 00:22:44,276 Speaker 11: in the book it sounds like the first precipitating event 330 00:22:44,436 --> 00:22:47,316 Speaker 11: is the death of your son. Braddock was touring with 331 00:22:47,396 --> 00:22:50,356 Speaker 11: the country music legend Mardy Robbins at the time. He 332 00:22:50,436 --> 00:22:52,956 Speaker 11: and his wife, Sue had a baby. The child was 333 00:22:53,076 --> 00:22:54,476 Speaker 11: just a few months old when he died. 334 00:22:54,796 --> 00:22:56,556 Speaker 2: Whenever I was in town, not on the road with 335 00:22:56,636 --> 00:23:00,116 Speaker 2: Marty Robbins, every single day we'd buy fresh flowers, go 336 00:23:00,236 --> 00:23:01,996 Speaker 2: put it on it's gray. We were just pathetic. 337 00:23:02,956 --> 00:23:05,716 Speaker 1: He and Sue fight, She cheats on him, he cheats 338 00:23:05,756 --> 00:23:08,356 Speaker 1: on her. They break up, they get back together, they 339 00:23:08,396 --> 00:23:12,236 Speaker 1: have a daughter. The divorce, his ex wife mysteriously vanishes. 340 00:23:12,476 --> 00:23:15,836 Speaker 1: He drinks a lot, gets into fights, owes enormous sums 341 00:23:15,876 --> 00:23:19,236 Speaker 1: to the irs, has a major Boutwood depression, smokes a 342 00:23:19,276 --> 00:23:22,956 Speaker 1: lot of pot, lurches from one volcanic event to the next, 343 00:23:23,556 --> 00:23:27,436 Speaker 1: and through it all Braddock writes songs, hundreds of them. 344 00:23:28,836 --> 00:23:36,596 Speaker 1: Your kind of tolerance for emotional volatility seems extraordinary. 345 00:23:40,476 --> 00:23:47,276 Speaker 2: I guess tolerance is probably a pretty good word for it. 346 00:23:48,716 --> 00:23:50,876 Speaker 1: Braddock walks over to the keyboard on the other side 347 00:23:50,876 --> 00:23:53,156 Speaker 1: of the room. He begins to talk about an old 348 00:23:53,236 --> 00:23:56,716 Speaker 1: girlfriend named Angela, who committed suicide by driving her car 349 00:23:56,836 --> 00:23:57,356 Speaker 1: into the river. 350 00:23:58,196 --> 00:24:03,836 Speaker 2: When Angela died, her mother took her baby to raise it. 351 00:24:05,356 --> 00:24:07,716 Speaker 2: And she sent me a picture of the little girl 352 00:24:08,236 --> 00:24:11,956 Speaker 2: Angela's when she's about four or five years ago, look 353 00:24:12,076 --> 00:24:15,116 Speaker 2: just like her mom. Picture of her standing out in 354 00:24:15,156 --> 00:24:26,276 Speaker 2: the arm And boy did a number on me, despite 355 00:24:26,676 --> 00:24:28,956 Speaker 2: all the dusts. 356 00:24:32,236 --> 00:24:34,516 Speaker 1: He wrote a song about that in twenty minutes. He 357 00:24:34,596 --> 00:24:36,916 Speaker 1: played it for me. Then he played his favorite bit 358 00:24:36,956 --> 00:24:39,716 Speaker 1: of a sad Randy Newman song. He played me a 359 00:24:39,796 --> 00:24:42,596 Speaker 1: heartbreaking song he wrote once after getting up in the 360 00:24:42,636 --> 00:24:45,076 Speaker 1: middle of the night and passing his lover in the hallway. 361 00:24:45,956 --> 00:24:49,676 Speaker 1: And as he played one weeper after another, I realized 362 00:24:49,836 --> 00:24:54,116 Speaker 1: that the thing I'd said about Braddock's tolerance for emotional volatility, 363 00:24:54,876 --> 00:24:58,316 Speaker 1: tolerance was the wrong word. That was just me projecting 364 00:24:58,396 --> 00:25:01,956 Speaker 1: my uptight Canadian self onto Braddock. But Braddock is from 365 00:25:02,036 --> 00:25:05,076 Speaker 1: the musical side of the United States, where emotion is 366 00:25:05,156 --> 00:25:08,716 Speaker 1: not something to be endured, it's something to be embraced. 367 00:25:10,156 --> 00:25:13,236 Speaker 1: At one point, when cell phones were still analog, you 368 00:25:13,276 --> 00:25:16,116 Speaker 1: could buy a scanner and listen in to other people's conversations, 369 00:25:16,636 --> 00:25:20,436 Speaker 1: and that's what Braddock does. He can't help himself. A 370 00:25:20,516 --> 00:25:23,116 Speaker 1: woman complains to her husband for an hour about his 371 00:25:23,236 --> 00:25:26,276 Speaker 1: lack of affection from the parking lot at the grocery store. 372 00:25:26,836 --> 00:25:29,916 Speaker 1: Then ask him what he wants and he says, maybe 373 00:25:29,996 --> 00:25:33,116 Speaker 1: Apple Newton's. And then this is my favorite part I'm 374 00:25:33,196 --> 00:25:36,836 Speaker 1: quoting now from Braddock's memoir. The conversation that truly touched 375 00:25:36,916 --> 00:25:40,156 Speaker 1: me was between a man perhaps forty and his mother 376 00:25:40,276 --> 00:25:42,996 Speaker 1: may Bee, late sixties, in which the sun opened up 377 00:25:42,996 --> 00:25:46,076 Speaker 1: about sexual problems he was having with his wife. And 378 00:25:46,196 --> 00:25:49,676 Speaker 1: I envied the sprinkling of profanities and the mother's invitation 379 00:25:49,876 --> 00:25:52,396 Speaker 1: to come over to the house, son, and let's open 380 00:25:52,476 --> 00:25:54,996 Speaker 1: a bottle of whisky and talk about it. Wishing I 381 00:25:55,156 --> 00:25:58,116 Speaker 1: had that kind of easy and open communication with my mom. 382 00:25:58,756 --> 00:26:01,756 Speaker 1: Then learning that the guy's mother was terminally ill with cancer. 383 00:26:02,876 --> 00:26:07,916 Speaker 1: If you're keeping track, that's marital difficulty, sex, profanity, whisky mom, 384 00:26:08,076 --> 00:26:12,436 Speaker 1: and terminal cancer in one conversation, and it truly touched 385 00:26:12,476 --> 00:26:18,716 Speaker 1: him free. Do you know what Braddott's favorite song is 386 00:26:19,516 --> 00:26:22,276 Speaker 1: Vince Gills go Rest High on that Mountain, which Gil 387 00:26:22,356 --> 00:26:24,716 Speaker 1: wrote in memory both of his brother who died young 388 00:26:24,756 --> 00:26:27,756 Speaker 1: of a heart attack and fellow country star Keith Whitley, 389 00:26:28,036 --> 00:26:29,356 Speaker 1: who drank himself to death. 390 00:26:30,596 --> 00:26:34,996 Speaker 2: O on. 391 00:26:39,276 --> 00:26:39,876 Speaker 9: Song you. 392 00:26:44,756 --> 00:26:49,636 Speaker 6: Is dumb, dude, Oh my god. 393 00:26:49,716 --> 00:26:53,676 Speaker 2: When Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs and Patty Lovelace are 394 00:26:53,676 --> 00:26:56,556 Speaker 2: singing harmony on that thing, I go nuts. It still 395 00:26:56,676 --> 00:27:00,316 Speaker 2: tears me up. Knowing that it's about death, and Vince 396 00:27:00,356 --> 00:27:03,556 Speaker 2: wrote it about Keith Whitley and then about his own brother, 397 00:27:04,436 --> 00:27:06,556 Speaker 2: and just the emotion that sending that song, It's just 398 00:27:06,716 --> 00:27:09,756 Speaker 2: it's just powerful day. 399 00:27:10,796 --> 00:27:24,476 Speaker 6: Left us gathered round agree degree we shock, goody. 400 00:27:28,236 --> 00:27:28,716 Speaker 4: Faces. 401 00:27:31,076 --> 00:27:35,476 Speaker 1: It's heartbreaking. Listening to that song makes me wonder if 402 00:27:35,516 --> 00:27:38,596 Speaker 1: some portion of what we call ideological division in America 403 00:27:38,996 --> 00:27:42,836 Speaker 1: actually isn't ideological at all. How big are the political 404 00:27:42,876 --> 00:27:45,916 Speaker 1: differences between red and blue states anyway, in the grand 405 00:27:45,956 --> 00:27:49,276 Speaker 1: scheme of things, not that big. Maybe what we're seeing 406 00:27:49,356 --> 00:27:53,436 Speaker 1: instead is a difference of emotional opinion, because if your 407 00:27:53,516 --> 00:27:58,116 Speaker 1: principal form of cultural expression has drinking, sex, suicide, heart attacks, 408 00:27:58,196 --> 00:28:01,756 Speaker 1: mom and terminal cancer all on the table for public discussion, 409 00:28:02,076 --> 00:28:03,756 Speaker 1: then the other half of the country is going to 410 00:28:03,836 --> 00:28:07,116 Speaker 1: seem really chilly and uncaring. And if you're from the 411 00:28:07,196 --> 00:28:10,476 Speaker 1: rock and roll half, clinging send me ironically to two 412 00:28:10,516 --> 00:28:13,516 Speaker 1: Dy Fruity O Rudy. When you listen to a song 413 00:28:13,596 --> 00:28:15,636 Speaker 1: written about a guy's brother who died young of a 414 00:28:15,676 --> 00:28:18,756 Speaker 1: heart attack and another guy who drank himself to death, 415 00:28:19,196 --> 00:28:27,836 Speaker 1: you're going to think, who are these people? Here's another 416 00:28:27,876 --> 00:28:33,556 Speaker 1: way to think about the sad song line. Let me 417 00:28:33,676 --> 00:28:36,596 Speaker 1: read you the list of the birthplaces of the performers 418 00:28:36,676 --> 00:28:39,436 Speaker 1: of the top twenty country songs of all time Again. 419 00:28:39,596 --> 00:28:49,036 Speaker 1: I'm going to use the Rolling Stone magazine list. Ready, Arkansas, Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Mississippi, Georgia, California, 420 00:28:49,116 --> 00:28:57,476 Speaker 1: Central Valley, by the way, not Los Angeles, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Texas, Kentucky, Texas. 421 00:28:59,196 --> 00:29:01,996 Speaker 1: I could do the top fifty, or the top one hundred, 422 00:29:02,236 --> 00:29:05,516 Speaker 1: or the top two hundred and you get the same pattern. Basically, 423 00:29:05,596 --> 00:29:08,876 Speaker 1: you cannot be a successful country singer or songwriter if 424 00:29:08,876 --> 00:29:12,716 Speaker 1: you're not from the South. It's impossible. There's one exception, 425 00:29:12,796 --> 00:29:15,876 Speaker 1: which is the great songwriter Harlan Howard, who was born 426 00:29:15,956 --> 00:29:19,836 Speaker 1: in Detroit, but almost immediately thereafter his family moves to 427 00:29:19,916 --> 00:29:22,596 Speaker 1: a farm in rural Kentucky. It's like the five to 428 00:29:22,676 --> 00:29:24,716 Speaker 1: second roll when you drop a piece of food on 429 00:29:24,796 --> 00:29:27,076 Speaker 1: the floor. If it's not on the ground long enough, 430 00:29:27,276 --> 00:29:30,076 Speaker 1: it doesn't count. As far as I can tell, there 431 00:29:30,116 --> 00:29:33,156 Speaker 1: are no Jews on the country list, almost no Catholics, 432 00:29:33,676 --> 00:29:37,996 Speaker 1: only two black people. It's white Southern Protestants all the 433 00:29:38,076 --> 00:29:43,396 Speaker 1: way down. Now compare that to the rock and roll list. 434 00:29:43,996 --> 00:29:48,116 Speaker 1: You've got Jews from Minnesota, black people from Detroit, Catholics 435 00:29:48,156 --> 00:29:53,316 Speaker 1: from New Jersey, middle class British art school dropouts, Canadians, Jamaicans. 436 00:29:54,196 --> 00:29:58,836 Speaker 1: Rock and roll is the rainbow coalition that diversity is 437 00:29:58,916 --> 00:30:01,756 Speaker 1: a good thing. It's why there's so much innovation in 438 00:30:01,876 --> 00:30:03,996 Speaker 1: rock and roll. But you pay a price for that. 439 00:30:07,836 --> 00:30:10,516 Speaker 1: There was a very clever bit of research published recently 440 00:30:10,556 --> 00:30:13,836 Speaker 1: by Colin Morris in the magazine The Pudding. He analyzed 441 00:30:13,876 --> 00:30:18,036 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand popular songs using an algorithm that can presses 442 00:30:18,116 --> 00:30:21,876 Speaker 1: digital files. So if you take out the repetitive bits 443 00:30:21,916 --> 00:30:25,636 Speaker 1: in a song, how much of it is left. Morris's 444 00:30:25,676 --> 00:30:28,436 Speaker 1: big finding is that rock and roll as a genre 445 00:30:28,836 --> 00:30:34,236 Speaker 1: is really, really repetitive. Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, the Beatles, 446 00:30:34,596 --> 00:30:37,876 Speaker 1: If you take out the duplicative parts, their music shrinks 447 00:30:37,916 --> 00:30:42,036 Speaker 1: by sixty percent. That's what happens when everyone is from 448 00:30:42,196 --> 00:30:46,156 Speaker 1: somewhere different. Nobody speaks the same language, so you have 449 00:30:46,316 --> 00:30:50,156 Speaker 1: to use cliche, the same phrases over and over again, 450 00:30:50,676 --> 00:30:54,036 Speaker 1: because if you go deeper or try to get more specific, 451 00:30:54,476 --> 00:30:58,516 Speaker 1: you start to lose people. Country music, on the other hand, 452 00:30:58,756 --> 00:31:02,436 Speaker 1: is not nearly as repetitive. When Morris ran the lyrics 453 00:31:02,436 --> 00:31:05,716 Speaker 1: of popular country singers through his algorithm, they only shrank 454 00:31:05,756 --> 00:31:08,676 Speaker 1: by about forty percent, a third less than the rock 455 00:31:08,716 --> 00:31:12,396 Speaker 1: and roller. Nor is hip hop repetitive, which makes sense. 456 00:31:12,916 --> 00:31:15,996 Speaker 1: The birthplaces of everyone on Rolling Stones list of greatest 457 00:31:16,156 --> 00:31:20,396 Speaker 1: rap songs reads like an urban version of the country list. Queens, 458 00:31:20,836 --> 00:31:25,436 Speaker 1: South Central, La Brooklyn, Long Island, South Central Long Beach, Houston, Queens, 459 00:31:25,516 --> 00:31:29,236 Speaker 1: The Bronx, Englewood, New Jersey, The Bronx. Hip Hop and 460 00:31:29,396 --> 00:31:33,756 Speaker 1: country are both tightly knit musical communities. And when you're 461 00:31:33,756 --> 00:31:37,156 Speaker 1: speaking to people who understand your world and your culture 462 00:31:37,476 --> 00:31:40,996 Speaker 1: and your language, you can tell much more complicated stories. 463 00:31:41,716 --> 00:31:45,236 Speaker 1: You can use much more precise imagery, you can lay 464 00:31:45,316 --> 00:31:53,316 Speaker 1: yourself bare because you're among your own. In the book, 465 00:31:53,396 --> 00:31:57,436 Speaker 1: it sounds like your relationship with Sparky was the one 466 00:31:57,516 --> 00:32:01,516 Speaker 1: that seemed the most creatively fruitful. It was it was 467 00:32:02,676 --> 00:32:06,276 Speaker 1: Sparky was a beautiful blonde from northern Alabama, the great 468 00:32:06,396 --> 00:32:08,876 Speaker 1: love of Bobby Braddock's life. Why was that? 469 00:32:10,596 --> 00:32:17,556 Speaker 2: I think because my family her is so strong. I mean, 470 00:32:17,636 --> 00:32:21,116 Speaker 2: it's it's sort of a visceral thing. 471 00:32:22,236 --> 00:32:25,356 Speaker 1: I think that's why I found Bobby Braddock's book so exhausting. 472 00:32:26,196 --> 00:32:30,396 Speaker 1: It's because everything is felt, everything is a mountain peak 473 00:32:30,916 --> 00:32:34,996 Speaker 1: and Sparky, Sparky was everest, high altitude infatuation. 474 00:32:36,276 --> 00:32:39,356 Speaker 2: That's the sort of thing that make people go absolutely crazy, 475 00:32:39,756 --> 00:32:44,276 Speaker 2: you know, and that was the case with her. You know, 476 00:32:45,836 --> 00:32:49,596 Speaker 2: that's what gets the animal instinct of people maybe who 477 00:32:49,676 --> 00:32:52,476 Speaker 2: haven't evolved as much as they should, and cause them 478 00:32:52,516 --> 00:32:55,196 Speaker 2: to go out and get a gun, blow somebody's brains 479 00:32:55,196 --> 00:32:58,956 Speaker 2: out over some gun. Not being able can't stand the thought, 480 00:32:59,076 --> 00:33:02,196 Speaker 2: or someone you know, having sex with the person that 481 00:33:02,356 --> 00:33:02,796 Speaker 2: he loves. 482 00:33:04,436 --> 00:33:06,996 Speaker 1: Braddick and Sparky were on and off lovers for years. 483 00:33:07,636 --> 00:33:13,116 Speaker 1: It was intense, painful, euphoric. When it ended, Braddock was 484 00:33:13,156 --> 00:33:13,676 Speaker 1: in pieces. 485 00:33:16,396 --> 00:33:19,356 Speaker 3: He kept her picture on the wall. 486 00:33:22,636 --> 00:33:23,916 Speaker 2: Went half crazy. 487 00:33:24,436 --> 00:33:27,036 Speaker 1: Now in the that's Braddock in the original demo he 488 00:33:27,116 --> 00:33:28,836 Speaker 1: made of he stopped loving her today. 489 00:33:28,876 --> 00:33:36,276 Speaker 3: He still loved her through it all, hoping she'd come 490 00:33:36,476 --> 00:33:37,196 Speaker 3: back looking. 491 00:33:38,476 --> 00:33:39,996 Speaker 2: I said, I'm not sure where it came from. It 492 00:33:40,116 --> 00:33:43,116 Speaker 2: may have come from Sparky, you know, honestly not know 493 00:33:43,396 --> 00:33:44,196 Speaker 2: it would be interesting. 494 00:33:45,316 --> 00:33:45,916 Speaker 9: How could it not? 495 00:33:46,316 --> 00:33:48,556 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, if I think it probably, I think it 496 00:33:48,676 --> 00:33:50,516 Speaker 2: probably did. But I just I can't see it. I 497 00:33:50,556 --> 00:33:53,316 Speaker 2: can't see that for any certainty to mar. 498 00:33:53,356 --> 00:33:57,156 Speaker 1: They'll carry him will I felt like Braddick shrink at 499 00:33:57,196 --> 00:34:00,596 Speaker 1: that moment, listening to his tangled dreams and then wanting 500 00:34:00,676 --> 00:34:03,076 Speaker 1: to shake him. At the end of the session. It's Sparky. 501 00:34:03,396 --> 00:34:07,476 Speaker 3: Sparky, they found some letters by his bed. 502 00:34:08,436 --> 00:34:10,116 Speaker 1: I mean, you wrote a song in the middle of 503 00:34:10,196 --> 00:34:17,676 Speaker 1: the great defining love affair of your life. The relationship ends, 504 00:34:17,676 --> 00:34:22,396 Speaker 1: and you write a song about the heartbreak of that 505 00:34:22,516 --> 00:34:27,436 Speaker 1: a man carries to his grave. I mean, could it 506 00:34:27,516 --> 00:34:28,076 Speaker 1: be more clear? 507 00:34:28,716 --> 00:34:31,596 Speaker 3: I went to see him one last time. 508 00:34:34,156 --> 00:34:36,636 Speaker 1: Bobby Braddock wrote, he stopped loving her today With his 509 00:34:36,716 --> 00:34:39,876 Speaker 1: friend Curly in nineteen seventy seven, they took it to 510 00:34:39,916 --> 00:34:43,396 Speaker 1: the singer George Jones. Jones was then at his lowest 511 00:34:43,436 --> 00:34:46,956 Speaker 1: ebb a wreck, strung out on cocaine and whiskey. He 512 00:34:47,156 --> 00:34:50,436 Speaker 1: just checked out of a psychiatric hospital. The great love 513 00:34:50,516 --> 00:34:53,676 Speaker 1: of his life, Tammy Wynette, had embodied her hit song 514 00:34:53,876 --> 00:34:57,676 Speaker 1: Di v O rcee and left him. Jones had just 515 00:34:57,756 --> 00:35:00,876 Speaker 1: nearly shot and killed one of his best friends. The 516 00:35:00,996 --> 00:35:04,156 Speaker 1: heartbroken Bobby Braddock has written a song about a man 517 00:35:04,196 --> 00:35:07,036 Speaker 1: who cannot stop loving a woman, and it's sung by 518 00:35:07,076 --> 00:35:10,836 Speaker 1: the heartbroken George Jones, who I cannot stop loving a woman. 519 00:35:12,156 --> 00:35:15,436 Speaker 3: Get some letters byes Babe. 520 00:35:19,356 --> 00:35:19,516 Speaker 2: Eight. 521 00:35:19,596 --> 00:35:28,956 Speaker 3: In nineteen sixty two, he had underline and red. 522 00:35:30,676 --> 00:35:37,076 Speaker 1: Underlined and read every single I love you, every single 523 00:35:37,316 --> 00:35:37,796 Speaker 1: I love you. 524 00:35:38,956 --> 00:35:46,756 Speaker 3: I went to see him just today. Oh but I 525 00:35:46,916 --> 00:35:55,516 Speaker 3: didn't seen old tears, all dressed up to go away. 526 00:35:58,996 --> 00:36:01,916 Speaker 3: First time I'd seen him smiling you. 527 00:36:03,116 --> 00:36:05,396 Speaker 1: Why did he finally turn his back on his great love? 528 00:36:05,916 --> 00:36:08,356 Speaker 1: Why is this the first time he smiled in years? 529 00:36:08,716 --> 00:36:11,436 Speaker 1: Because he's dead? Only death could end his. 530 00:36:11,516 --> 00:36:20,596 Speaker 6: Love it blaster red upon his dog. I'm sung belt Carrier. 531 00:36:26,076 --> 00:36:28,716 Speaker 3: He stopped loving hard today. 532 00:36:30,196 --> 00:36:34,356 Speaker 1: It's totally over the top. Madelin sentimental Kitchie, call it 533 00:36:34,436 --> 00:36:38,876 Speaker 1: whatever you want, just don't fight it. One thing that 534 00:36:38,956 --> 00:36:41,756 Speaker 1: Bobby Braddock told me in Passing that I think about 535 00:36:41,796 --> 00:36:44,276 Speaker 1: a lot is that he thought of the character in 536 00:36:44,356 --> 00:36:47,556 Speaker 1: his song as a bad role model. The man was obsessed. 537 00:36:48,156 --> 00:36:52,196 Speaker 1: He couldn't let go. But that's the point, right, That's 538 00:36:52,236 --> 00:36:55,716 Speaker 1: why we cry, because the song manages to find beauty 539 00:36:56,036 --> 00:36:59,196 Speaker 1: and even a little bit of grandeur in someone's frailty. 540 00:37:01,036 --> 00:37:02,916 Speaker 6: I'm song belt Carriage. 541 00:37:08,116 --> 00:37:11,916 Speaker 3: He stopped hard today. 542 00:37:13,436 --> 00:37:15,756 Speaker 1: Wild horses please. 543 00:37:22,596 --> 00:37:25,356 Speaker 7: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Grand 544 00:37:25,396 --> 00:37:29,076 Speaker 7: Ole Opry House, to the celebration of life of George 545 00:37:29,276 --> 00:37:32,756 Speaker 7: Glenn Jones. One of the most important people ever, of 546 00:37:32,876 --> 00:37:35,396 Speaker 7: all time and of any time in the history of 547 00:37:35,476 --> 00:37:36,196 Speaker 7: country music. 548 00:37:36,876 --> 00:37:41,036 Speaker 1: George Jones died in twenty thirteen. Everyone who was anyone 549 00:37:41,116 --> 00:37:43,996 Speaker 1: in country music came to his memorial service. You should 550 00:37:43,996 --> 00:37:46,116 Speaker 1: watch it if you get the chance. It's on YouTube, 551 00:37:46,436 --> 00:37:49,196 Speaker 1: all two hours and forty one minutes of it. Because 552 00:37:49,236 --> 00:37:52,596 Speaker 1: it's everything I've been talking about. Vince Gill stands up 553 00:37:52,636 --> 00:37:55,236 Speaker 1: with Patty Lovelace and sings go Rest High in that 554 00:37:55,356 --> 00:38:18,956 Speaker 1: Mountain and breaks down halfway through. Travis Tritt remembers a 555 00:38:18,996 --> 00:38:22,396 Speaker 1: conversation he once had with Chris Christofferson about how they 556 00:38:22,436 --> 00:38:25,076 Speaker 1: expected George Jones to have died years before. 557 00:38:26,436 --> 00:38:28,876 Speaker 12: And I looked at Chris and I made the comment, 558 00:38:30,156 --> 00:38:34,156 Speaker 12: you know, with all the years of hard living that 559 00:38:34,316 --> 00:38:39,596 Speaker 12: George had, who would have ever thought that he would 560 00:38:39,636 --> 00:38:47,476 Speaker 12: outlive Tammy. And Chris looked at me and said, had 561 00:38:47,516 --> 00:38:51,396 Speaker 12: it not been for Nancy, he would not have. 562 00:38:55,156 --> 00:38:59,596 Speaker 1: Nancy Jones, George Jones's fourth and final wife, the real 563 00:38:59,716 --> 00:39:04,076 Speaker 1: love of his life, his soulmate and companion. Travis Tritt 564 00:39:04,316 --> 00:39:07,396 Speaker 1: holds out his hand towards Nancy, who's sitting right in 565 00:39:07,476 --> 00:39:08,036 Speaker 1: the front row. 566 00:39:09,156 --> 00:39:13,196 Speaker 12: It many times she's my angel, and she saved my 567 00:39:13,356 --> 00:39:17,516 Speaker 12: life and so we owe you a debt of gratitude. 568 00:39:18,476 --> 00:39:18,676 Speaker 10: For that. 569 00:39:21,356 --> 00:39:24,636 Speaker 1: Then comes the crowning moment of the day, the final performance. 570 00:39:25,316 --> 00:39:29,236 Speaker 1: Alan Jackson strides out onto the stage a big rangy guy, 571 00:39:29,796 --> 00:39:34,316 Speaker 1: craggy features, cowboy boots, jeans, long coat, white statson. He 572 00:39:34,436 --> 00:39:38,916 Speaker 1: looks squarely at Nancy Jones and without introduction, launches into 573 00:39:38,996 --> 00:39:39,916 Speaker 1: he stopped loving her? 574 00:39:39,956 --> 00:39:48,756 Speaker 4: Today, he said, all of you till I die. She 575 00:39:49,076 --> 00:39:58,276 Speaker 4: told him you are good time as years went fool. 576 00:40:00,756 --> 00:40:04,676 Speaker 1: And you realize as he sings, that Braddock's song has 577 00:40:04,756 --> 00:40:08,716 Speaker 1: gotten even more specific. It's no longer about a long 578 00:40:08,756 --> 00:40:13,196 Speaker 1: ago affair. It's about right now. This is the day 579 00:40:13,276 --> 00:40:20,556 Speaker 1: George Jones stopped loving Nancy Jones. Alan Jackson takes off 580 00:40:20,596 --> 00:40:22,756 Speaker 1: his hat and places it over his heart. 581 00:40:24,516 --> 00:40:26,556 Speaker 4: He stopped loving her. 582 00:40:29,636 --> 00:40:30,076 Speaker 6: Today. 583 00:40:34,636 --> 00:40:37,316 Speaker 1: And if you aren't crying, I can't help you. 584 00:40:38,836 --> 00:40:39,636 Speaker 3: Love you, George. 585 00:40:44,636 --> 00:40:46,996 Speaker 7: All the free grades of our time, ladies and gentlemen 586 00:40:47,596 --> 00:40:52,036 Speaker 7: at all time. That's Alan Jackson, Thank you so much. 587 00:40:52,116 --> 00:40:52,316 Speaker 3: John. 588 00:41:15,796 --> 00:41:19,516 Speaker 1: Revision's History is produced by Mio Lobel and Jacob Smith, 589 00:41:19,636 --> 00:41:24,356 Speaker 1: with Camille Baptista, Stephanie Daniel, and Siomara Martinez White. Our 590 00:41:24,476 --> 00:41:28,916 Speaker 1: editor is Julia Barton. Lawn Williams is our engineer. Original 591 00:41:29,036 --> 00:41:32,596 Speaker 1: music by Luis Sciarra. Special thanks to Andy Bauers and 592 00:41:32,716 --> 00:41:35,596 Speaker 1: Jacob Weisberger. Panoply, I'm Malcolm gardwe