Wednesday, May 27, 2009

for Jay Bennett, the Ashes of American Flags

The Ashes of American Flags, series of 4
8 x 8 inches, acrylic on canvas
SOLD

Jay Bennett the multi talented instrumentalist who played with Wilco on their three finest albums passed away this week at the age of forty five, this man was an incredibly talented musician and is responsible for what I consider the "Wilco sound" although some may dispute that. He left the band, just after the filming of "I am trying to break your heart (documentary on the recording of, Yankee Foxtrot Hotel) and was involved in a law suit regarding his royalties from the album. Normally the death of a "celebrity" doesn't affect me, but in this case, his talent and his young age really moved me.

Ashes Of American Flags lyrics
by Wilco

The cash machine is blue and green
For a bundle of twenties and a small service fee
I could spend three dollars and sixty-three cents...On Diet Coca-Cola and unlit cigarettes
I wonder why we listen to poets when nobody gives a fuck
How hot and sorrowful, the machine begs for luck
All my lies are always wishesI know I would die if I could come back new
We want a good life with a nose for things
the fresh wind and bright sky to endure my suffering
I'm a hole without a key if I break my tongue
Oh, speaking of tomorrow, how will it ever come?
All my lies are always wishes I know I would die if I could come back new
I'm down on my hands and knees every time I hear a doorbell ring
I shake like a toothache every time I hear myself sing
All my lies are only wishes,I know I would die if I could come back new
I would like to salutethe ashes of American flags
And all the fallen leavesfilling up shopping bags

here's a link to the video with great guitar work by Nels Kline

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka9Mqgx-5VA

RIP Jay Bennett

A.S.Hahn

Come to the Press Club, Saturday May 30th to hang on the patio from 6-8 pm.