“I thought I was on a kind of playdate, right? Then Killian starts playing, and I was like, Oh, really? The kid was totally schooling me.”

October 19, 2009 8:19 PM

Never Mind the Pity: How Killian Mansfield's Dying Dream Turned into the Making of a Miraculous Album.

While still hospitalized, Killian puts together a dream list of musicians he’d like to work with, focusing on those who spend time in the Catskills. E-mails are sent, calls made, favors asked. He wants to make the record a love letter to the idyllic, eclectic swath of America where he’s lived the past few years. As the responses come in, however, the project shapes up to be far more ambitious than anyone first imagined. Among those who sign on are Dr. John, the legendary New Orleans songwriter; Levon Helm, the drummer for the Band; Kate Pierson of the B-52s; the Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian; and Todd Rundgren. Ralph agrees to put off all other work in the studio. Killian, meanwhile, compiles a list of songs that, in some way or another, are connected in his mind to integrative therapy. He sees “Scratch My Back,” by renowned bluesman Slim Harpo, as a reference to massage; “Express Yourself,” the funk classic, is chosen to give props to the Cancer Dancers, a group that reaches out to sick children through dance. “Kiss” he deems “one of the greatest love songs ever written,” love being perhaps the best integrative therapy around. Topping his “dream list” of collaborators is David Bowie, with whom Killian imagines recording a uke version of “Starman.”

Stream the whole album.

More background on Killian Mansfield and his ukulele, and on synovial sarcoma, the cancer that eventually caused his death.

Complete track listing for Somewhere Else:

1. Express Yourself - Amy Helm; Jay Collins; Randy Ciarlante; KT Legnini; Killian Mansfield; Jay Collins; Ralph Legnini
2. Scratch My Back - Dr. John; Ralph Legnini; Randy Ciarlante; Frank Campbell; Scott Healy
3. Somewhere Else - Bar Scott, Amy Helm, Dorraine Scofield, Amy Fradon; Ralph Legnini; Killian Mansfield; Sara Lee; Bruce Katz
4. Fishin' Blues - John Sebastian; Ralph Legnini; Killian Mansfield; Molly Mason; Jay Ungar; Bruce Katz
5. Girl from Ipanema - KT Legnini; Killian Mansfield; Chris Wood; Zachary Alford; Ralph Carney; Ralph Legnini
6. Kiss - Killian Mansfield; Scott Healy; Ralph Legnini
7. Heaven Bound - Gail Ann Dorsey; Sara Lee; Killian Mansfield; Ralph Legnini
8. Blue Skies - Laurel Masse; Killian Mansfield; Chris Wood; Ralph Carney; Dennis Mackrel
9. There's Love in My Food - Ralph Legnini; Kate Pierson; Killian Mansfield; Scott Healy; Jay Ungar
10. Jack and Jill - Barbara Mansfield; Sara Lee; Killian Mansfield; Molly Mason; Jay Ungar; Ralph Carney; Ralph Legnini
11. Fire in My Pocket - Jim Treutlein; Ralph Legnini; Levon Helm; Amy Helm; Levon's Dog; Lee Henry Collins; Barbara Mansfield; Killian Mansfield
12. Starman - Lucia Legnini; Cally Mansfield; Eric Parker; Killian Mansfield; Gail Ann Dorsey; Rob Sabino; Ralph Legnini;Todd Rundgren
13. If I Can Dream - Killian Mansfield; Randy Ciarlante; Scott Healy; Ralph Legnini

posted by ocherdraco (34 comments total)

Yep. Now I'm cryin. Thanks man.


.
posted by Tesseractive at 8:59 PM on October 19, 2009

The story made me cry, but the ukulele and accordion cover of "Kiss" made me laugh - there's such joy in it. What a stunningly assured voice Killian had, and what a remarkable life he shaped in such a too-short time.
posted by EvaDestruction at 9:11 PM on October 19, 2009

Sounded great through the list of contributors... until I got to the list of cover songs and his specious reasoning for their inclusion, at which point it just sounded like a poorly conceived stunt album. Thanks anyway.
posted by squeakyfromme at 9:26 PM on October 19, 2009

Squeakyfromme, did you listen to the streamed album? It works very well as a whole, stylistically, despite any notions about the randomness of the selections.
posted by Tesseractive at 9:41 PM on October 19, 2009

the list of cover songs and his specious reasoning for their inclusion

We're talking about a 15 year old kid here. Being a stringed instrument prodigy who impressed seasoned musicians as he neared prenatural death isn't enough? Artistic, emotional and intellectual depth comes with long term accumulation of experiences, both beautiful and sorrowful... something fate robbed him of.
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:45 PM on October 19, 2009 [9 favorites]

CynicalKnight's comment directly above was not only very well put but decidedly uneponysterical.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:49 PM on October 19, 2009

Good lord. If reading the article makes me cry, I'm not sure I can bear to listen to the music.

*sniff*
posted by Space Kitty at 10:03 PM on October 19, 2009

.

now i need a hug.
posted by Jon_Evil at 10:10 PM on October 19, 2009

Being a stringed instrument prodigy who impressed seasoned musicians as he neared prenatural death isn't enough?

Not if the emotional gravitas is supposed to rest on the strength of cover versions, no. I can sympathize with a dying 15 year old without necessarily taking anything meaningful from his decision to render an old blues tune called "Scratch My Back" as a metaphor for massage, can't I?
posted by squeakyfromme at 10:11 PM on October 19, 2009

Ah yes, the internet. It's like the Bat Cave for cynical assholes.

Great post ocherdraco. Thanks for doing the work to give his music its proper context.
posted by felix betachat at 10:25 PM on October 19, 2009 [3 favorites]

Sure, squakyfromme, you can indeed. But you'd be passing up the obvious available meaning. Music is inherently exuberance, expression, a joyful noise, and not a semiological literature for the consideration of the intellect. Songs can be detourned and made to mean as much or as little as the listener chooses, and a 15 year old who's sick makes choices that may seem saccharine, trite, or out of whack to you, but that's exactly what is fun to experience about this album. The album exists not because he was a clever curator but because in his last days, but because he sang and played. SANG. and PLAYED.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:28 PM on October 19, 2009 [4 favorites]

strike that second "but because" there.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:29 PM on October 19, 2009

Fair enough, but the thing is I listened to it and it frankly just sounded like another mediocre all star album, not significantly better than and probably actually a lesser effort than even the likes of the last couple Santana albums, which I thought were pretty much polished, passionless commercial garbage. Hell, I can't even here a significant emphasis on the kid's ukulele in most of these tracks, so admittedly I'm having a hard time focusing on the tragic aspect of his fate as opposed to the music...

I seriously doubt that I'm the only one who isn't getting anything out of this album, but ultimately this was a three hanky thread intended for the tearjerker set which I had no business sticking my stoic nose into, so sorry for the intrustion. As you were...
posted by squeakyfromme at 10:37 PM on October 19, 2009

Heh. I don't own any hankies. For what it's worth, I think it's okay for squeakyfromme to evaluate the kid's music the same way he would any other album. It's, y'know, according him the same respect as any other musician, making him stand on his merits and not just his story.

I like the music, myself.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:44 PM on October 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

I seriously doubt that I'm the only one who isn't getting anything out of this album

Your favorite cancer-ridden, fifteen-year-old ukulele prodigy sucks.
posted by felix betachat at 10:49 PM on October 19, 2009 [11 favorites]

I didn't get much out of the album musically speaking, though I do think it was a pretty fab accomplishment for a 15 year-old, regardless of whether one would spend money on it or not.

But I got a lot out of the fact that this kid managed - in the short time he had, and under very painful and difficult circumstances - to do something not a lot of people ever do, which was simply to pursue his dream. I don't know if Dr John and Levon Helm would help out any ambitious 15 year-old (I suspect not), but I suppose that's academic really.

Killian seemed like a pretty unusual kid - sensitive and a follower of his own particular rhythm. I'm happy for him that he got to make a record with some really great musicians and experience a taste of what he might have spent his adulthood doing - and the occasional bad review is a part of that, too.

The spirit and circumstances under which this album was made make me happy and proud for Killian that it came together the way it did. I don't see much point in bad mouthing it, and I (very sincerely) hope that those who do aren't doing so out of a repressed awareness of their failed or unattempted dreams. (And I really do mean that, without a hint of cynicism.)
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 11:02 PM on October 19, 2009 [3 favorites]

I think Dee Xtrovert is onto something: Dr. John can only hurt your cause, not help. Anyone ever heard his version of "Cold Shot" on the posthumous Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute? I wouldn't call it life affirming, let's just put it that way...
posted by squeakyfromme at 11:10 PM on October 19, 2009

But I got a lot out of the fact that this kid managed - in the short time he had, and under very painful and difficult circumstances - to do something not a lot of people ever do, which was simply to pursue his dream.

Also this is somewhat what I'm getting at here: I appreciate the facts surrounding the creation of the record and I appreciate the selflessness of the artists who helped to make it a reality, but the actual artistic merits of the music itself frankly don't add to the story itself afaic so I'd just as soon content myself with the backstory.

Not intending any overt snark by not digging the music, just offering an alternate viewpoint.
posted by squeakyfromme at 11:16 PM on October 19, 2009

I like the article, but the music's not my cup of tea. Great post nonetheless. Poor kid.
posted by benzenedream at 11:21 PM on October 19, 2009

Dr. John can only hurt your cause, not help.

Unless your cause is to experience a metric fuckton of party. In which case: critic-approved, dessicated hipsters with relativistic egos are exactly the sort of people you don't need darkening your door. In this light, perhaps Dr. John and, hell, Dr. Demento are preferable company to Tom fucking Waits and KRS-One.
posted by kid ichorous at 11:37 PM on October 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

To make that clearer, I am asserting that the sort of 'talent' needed to make something more ambitious out of this tragedy would probably have made his last months a living hell.
posted by kid ichorous at 11:49 PM on October 19, 2009

In this light, perhaps Dr. John and, hell, Dr. Demento are preferable company to Tom fucking Waits and KRS-One.

You lost me with Dr. Demento. Seriously, I'm all about the care free party guy - hell, I can even stomach Andrew WK with enough bad bourbon in me - but make the case for me that Dr. John has done anything but dispassionately coast on the Mardi Gras reputation since the mid-70s... by all means. You seriously think in the year 2009 that Dr. John still sounds like he gives a shit? Really?
posted by squeakyfromme at 11:53 PM on October 19, 2009

Sure, that may be, but I suspect that this kid wrote his invites only to those with whom he'd like to squeeze in a final jam, nothing more. I agree that the end product is admittedly less than radio standard, but how many earnest Kurt Cobains should he have forced upon himself in his last year of life? How many battles over the fader table are he and his amateur producer required to mediate? How much star power crammed into a tiny studio and incalculably balanced on a single plastic dish?

This album is whimsy. And if you want my take: Killian's an Irish name, and seeing as the Irish are bound to be at odds and oppositions with everything, always, we can fairly greet life with moroseness and death with whimsy. It's backwards, but I'll cop to it. Because whimsy - loud, instant, accidental - is an ultimate tell-off to whatever quiet, patient forces contrive tumors in the dark. Look at all that spoiled work, cancer. You could record whiskey spilling on a live amplifier and I'd call it a good rebuttal to death.
posted by kid ichorous at 12:29 AM on October 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

A musical curiosity, yes, but the kid shows promise.

Can't wait for the follow-up album!
posted by markkraft at 12:46 AM on October 20, 2009

My album in the same circumstances at 15 would have had about as much depth of thought as a K-Tel compilation so I'm impressed and inclined to be less critical. I send an 'Atta boy' into the void.

CynicalKnight's comment directly above was not only very well put but decidedly uneponysterical.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:49 PM on October 19 [+] [!]

I vote eponymoronic. Eponymoronical works too.
posted by vapidave at 1:19 AM on October 20, 2009

Dee Xtrovert captured my feelings perfectly. This music isn't something I would be inclined to listen to but I think it's great that the kid got a chance to be creative and have some fun before he died. I admit, the 'Kiss' cover was amusing.
posted by Eclipsante at 1:57 AM on October 20, 2009

"My album in the same circumstances at 15..."

...would've meant that you would've died around 1979.

Context is everything, I guess.
posted by markkraft at 1:59 AM on October 20, 2009

I didn't think Dr. John was going to do "Such a Night," then - bam! - second encore!

I'm with squeakyfromme. He's been coasting for 35 years.
posted by GamblingBlues at 4:21 AM on October 20, 2009

It's a nice community, upstate New York. Nice they could do this, and made some nice music, too.
Thanks.
posted by From Bklyn at 5:03 AM on October 20, 2009

Not if the emotional gravitas is supposed to rest on the strength of cover versions, no.

I don't know about the adulation or suggestions of prodigy, but for me the gravitas lay in seeing a bunch of fairly famous people with presumably other stuff they could have been doing come together to give this kid his last dying wish.

It honestly doesn't matter how good or bad it sounds. This was a great gift. We should be so lucky to live half as much in our allotted 70 years as he got in his 15.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:15 AM on October 20, 2009

Six posts, all of them to dump on a charity album put together by a teenager dying of cancer and some classic rockers, squeaky? Honestly? Whatever your beef is, recognize that it isn't remotely related to the musical quality of the album. You got more issues than Playboy, and it's making you pee all over the carpet.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:30 AM on October 20, 2009 [4 favorites]

Was the kid an SCTV fan? Levon Helm was the subject of an Earl Camembert bit, Dr. John appeared in the classic "Polynesiantown" sketch, and Todd Rundgren looks suspiciously like Rick Moranis in a wig.
posted by Iridic at 7:52 AM on October 20, 2009

You could record whiskey spilling on a live amplifier and I'd call it a good rebuttal to death.

Not if it's my amp-- then it's a prelude to death.
posted by InfidelZombie at 2:51 PM on October 20, 2009

Nice post... thanks....

And, good for Killian... I hope this effort brought him some peace...
posted by HuronBob at 4:14 PM on October 20, 2009