Drunken Angel

January 26, 2006 8:13 PM

Blaze Foley, Drunken Angel. An iconoclastic country singer and songwriter who was shot dead in 1989, Blaze Foley is probably best known as the subject of Lucinda Williams' song 'Drunken Angel' and the author of 'If I Could Only Fly' which was covered by both Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. He also wrote the anti-Reagan 'Oval Room' which was unusually leftist for early-1980's Nashville. A documentary is in the works. Here's some video of Foley singing with Townes Van Zandt, himself once a cult figure but now considered somewhat last week.
posted by liam (8 comments total)

Heh, weird I just had that song (along with a GbV song) pop into my head the other day when brainstorming for new t-shirt designs, but never knew the character was a real person.



Metafilter has done that more then once; present a fpp one some topic I rarely think about, within days of it random occupying of my mind. Seems statistically improbable.
posted by Jezztek at 9:06 PM on January 26, 2006

liam, thanks.
posted by es_de_bah at 9:45 PM on January 26, 2006

Thanks for a nice post. Love Lucinda's song but have never
listened to Blaze but will now.
posted by thedailygrowl at 10:50 PM on January 26, 2006

Yay! A post about my *other* favorite fucked-up Texas singer-songwriter! Thanks liam.
If "live at the outhouse" were more well- known, the world would be a better place.
(strangely enough, I was just talking to a local music critic about Blaze. weird.)
posted by notsnot at 11:40 PM on January 26, 2006

"When "If I Could Only Fly' was first released by he and Willie, there was some Nashville trade paper that quoted Merle saying it was the best country song he'd heard in 15 years," recalls Casner. "Blaze kept a copy of that magazine rolled up in his boot for three or four months, so he could show people. When I told that to Merle he kind of shuddered.

"For Blaze, that quote from Merle was validation that he was a real songwriter. The commercial success didn't matter. He had been validated because one of the best country songwriters of all time had made the point to say that Blaze was good."

I'm with Merle on If I Could Only Fly. That song is just about the Platonic ideal of a Country song. It is just heartbreakingly sad. Not unlike the facts of his life.

Man, does Texas have more than its fair share of great songwriters or what ?
posted by y2karl at 11:47 PM on January 26, 2006

Neat. I need to visit Texas one of these days.
posted by bardic at 6:52 AM on January 27, 2006

great post. Thanks
posted by MinPin at 7:08 AM on January 27, 2006

Lucinda, more often than not, kicks off her set with that song. I wonder if he is in her mind, every time she sings it.
posted by Danf at 9:11 AM on January 27, 2006