Chris Wall has written songs of emotional insight and wisdom such as "I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight," "The Poet Is Not In Today," and "Old Broken Record," and he has also written songs that pay the electricity bill, such as "Trashy Women." A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of talking with Chris Wall for a little while at Hondo's On Main in Fredericksburg after he finished his set. I asked him if "Old Broken Record" was influenced by the unrequited love poetry of William Butler Yeats. He said that it was not. He said that the song was actually built around "it always gets stuck on you you you." The image of the Moon revolving around the Earth follows the theme of the record's revolution. Here is a link to "Old Broken Record":
Some might think, "Why in the world would you ask a question about an Irish poet to a country singer?" The answer is that many of our best songwriters are quite well-read and draw inspiration from a wide variety of sources. Guy Clark actually mentions Yeats in the opening line of "Cold Dog Soup," and Robert Earl Keen cites the 13th century Persian poet Rumi as an important influence. Ray Wylie Hubbard's career was probably saved by Ranier Maria Rilke, the Bohemian poet, and Mother Hubbard's writing also reflects an understanding of world religions. In fact, he explicitly mentions Hinduism in his song "Stolen Horses." Let's just say that wisdom can be conveyed in a southern drawl.
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