Hey Darlin’
This play is going out to all the people (mostly women) who have asked when will I play, why don’t I play, have I already played or why did you play Hey Darlin’ before I got here? Also to those who insist that I play it again right away.
Also to bandmates in The OUTERSPACE Band and NYC constellation groups including Dirt Simple, the Incredible Human Beings, the C-Tones, Second Hand Smoke and the Rock Geniuses. All have put this tune into the air and enhanced the reputation and notoriety of the one and only Pat McLaughlin. Made you famouser if that’s possible. And regulars at the Plough & Stars in that day, Dan, James Keller, Jan Cornish, Red Green, Steve White, Mr. Bones, Steve, Moon, J Bunny.
Dear Pat,
Autumn in Vermont, picking apples, making cider, a million flaming trees at Jim Rooney’s house. We were sitting round his kitchen table and Jim regaled us with tales of his incredible brushes with brilliant songwriters…. from publishing to performances and back again. His is an amazing story. And of course you came up. He actually brought out your most recent album. I realize we were never close friends but I, like so many others used to catch you religiously at the Plough and Stars in Cambridge, Mass. Irish Pub on the corner of Mass Ave. and Hancock St. And believe me that place was the closest thing I had to religion in those days. Restorative and Redemptive. What a good bar ought to be. Also volatile and surprising. Home to pirates, smugglers, wheelers, dealers, falling women, and an occasional IRA exchange student. Amidst this rogue gallery of characters there you stood -the Plough Man of music. Provided our soundtrack. Apropos and serendipitous.
Made in America.
You simply played and sang. Banged it out. I called you the plough man of music. I can’t seem to stop saying that. Is this the chorus or am I just repeating myself? You just put your back and heart into it. And even more mind boggling…..you played songs you had written yourself. And great ones. No turkeys. No duds. I have seen many single artists work and fill a room. I saw Dave Van Ronk, Richie Havens And Jose Feliciano at the Moon-Cusser coffee shop in the Vineyard when I was 13. Van Ronk was so powerful that he blew the doors off. You owned that room like them. You really defined Americana before there was Americana. Sometimes you let me sit in on harmonica. That was like riding with the King.
Well we are sitting with Jim ROONEY. He gets out some of your records as we chatted and reviewed all artists he had known and managed and songs he had heard and those he’d published. John Prine and Townes Van Zandt. And I learned first-hand what the Internet and streaming had done to the once lucrative publishing biz. Jim got out in the nick of time as the times they were a changing. Got a kick out of the pic on the cover of your 1st album, you looking down at your guitar. You were mostly looking down when you played. There was a shy and humble aspect to your style or lack of it. There was so little pretense. A kind of “don’t bug me when I’m working” approach.
So when I decided to do this blog where I recalled songs I wrote and produced and performed - I naturally wanted to pay tribute to those who got me going, and kept me going and inspired me to be better. In later years I stood in the very spot where you put your shoulder to the wheel. And sweated into the crowd on a humid July night. And I moved to my $20 Mandolin when the crowd drifted playing Send Her Roses…at least as I remembered it…. “If I don’t go down another dirt road...don’t think it gonna hurt my day.” Learning from the pros. And that would be you.
I looked at your bio on Wikipedia and was surprised to see the author mentioned Colorado, Nashville and San Francisco but passed over Cambridge with a brief, sidelong glance. And truly it was but a short turn in that little town. We all were a bit bewildered how we had the good fortune to have such an original in our midst. Kind of a ‘man what are you doing here?’ We got lucky to hear you at maybe your most exposed and powerful time. You were complete. You didn’t need anybody else to make you larger or more persuasive. Badass comes to mind. You were all in. You were much loved.
That was the place. The time? Somewhere between ‘74 and ‘77. I was living on Bigelow St. close by to Hancock St and the Plough. On any given Friday I would go down and hear you play. Jan would say, “Do you think he will play Hey Darlin’?” Maybe the best country love song ever written. Really. Every woman wished you’d written it for her. Every man wished they’d written it for some woman. “Let your bright light shine on this life I’m leading, open up your door.” True to life. 1st person delivered. Watching the fully realized you at close range was inspiring. We felt lucky to be there.
Hey Darlin’, was brilliant. There were other standouts too. I don’t know whether I got the titles right, but there was one called Hard Loving Stranger/“you say California you’re a long way from Kansas - your sunny blue waters just a picture I see. Think I might chance her then I’ll go for the dancer - cause she got her eyes set on me” and one I think called Send Her Roses - you turned a wicked mandolin that made everybody turn around in that sweaty, smoky pub. No social distancing there. “I send her roses/ roses every day. If I don’t go down another dirt road - don’t think it gonna hurt my day.” Another tune much loved by Jan Cornish. You made playing music in that bar an act of physical labor. Like pounding a nail or chopping wood.
So in 1979 I entered CI Studios on 57th St. for the second time. It’s in the Directors Guild Building just east of Carnegie Hall. And I recorded 4 tunes. One, I Need A Wish was featured in the last blog post. I decided to do a cover and Hey Darlin’ was the natural choice. Everybody loved that tune and honestly I was just starting to write songs. I think I got a nice pop version of a great tune and it was great fun to sing. The drumming by Leo Adamian gives the cut a unique anticipated feel. Very spare and minimalist. The way he cuts up the break before the vocal ride out is really awesome and not typical of country. The rest of the players are the same as on I Need A Wish. Thanks to all for making it a very special country treatment. Kudos.
This is a thank you note of sorts/ You were an inspiring light on a Friday night. You put me on a musical path/ when it was pretty dark. You be one of a handful of lifesavers who got me to this seventy - and made me pick up the guitar, sing like a bird and put pen to paper with a line and breath……. Many thanks.
Hey Darlin’
By Pat McLaughlin
Hey Darlin’
Open up your door
Because I don’t stand on no city sidewalks
For anything less or anything more
Then your tender lovin’
Brought me down here
You’ve got too many nights
And too many months
Let your bright light shine on this life I’m leading
Open up your door
I’d sure like to see you again
A brighter morning
See me here before
You’ve got late night dance and sweet romance
Makes you everything this boy could ever want and more
You know I might say something
If I could talk at all
Your smile or your frown’s
Gonna act on me
For a night or a day and if I’m lucky for a life or two
I’d surely like to see you again
And if you were a song you know that I could sing you out
If you come along I never want to pull you down
If there was a reason you know that I could find you now
Because you’re the lady I’ve been looking for
And I ain’t tellin’ I don’t need you anymore
I’d surely like to see you again
I’d surely like to see you again
And if you were a song you know that I could sing you out
If you come along I never want to pull you down
And if there was a reason you know that I could find you now
Because you’re the lady I’ve been looking hard for
And I ain’t tellin’ I don’t need you anymore
I’d really like to see you again