Jesus, Etc. – Wilco (2002)
This week’s WIS is inspired by this niche Wilco reference posted on Instagram by Jason Isbell after the white smoke appeared.
The few regular readers of this blog will be aware of my obsession with Chicago band Wilco and this week I am seizing the opportunity blether on about another one of their tracks. I watched the Bafta-winning film Conclave a few months ago and found it strangely riveting for someone who is not a religious person. I was particularly impressed with the cinematography, which maximised the impact of the massed cardinals in their striking red and white attire. So when fate produced a real-life conclave and the white smoke billowed, I found myself tuning in to the live TV pictures to see if life imitated art. I can’t recall if there was a full new-pope-on-balcony scene in the movie, but the huge Vatican side windows crammed with red cardinals as Pope Leo emerged certainly evoked the feeling of the film. And then Lynn showed me Jason Isbell’s Insta post.
The oddly named Jesus, Etc. appeared on Wilco’s much-vaunted, career-defining fifth album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, released in unusual circumstances in 2002. It is one of Wilco’s most popular tracks and the website Setlist.com tells me it is their second most performed song in their live shows, suggesting it has been performed 1,094 times. Fans at their gigs are so familiar with the song now that there is an understanding that singer Jeff Tweedy steps back from the mic on the third verse and lets the crowd sing it. The track dates from the time the band was evolving from its first main incarnation into the line up which has been stable for the last 20 years. At that time, principal songwriter Jeff Tweedy wrote all the lyrics but shared the writing of the music with the late Jay Bennett. The latter has explained that the title was meant to be the opening line Jesus Don’t Cry but in writing out the track titles of recordings in the studio, he hastily abbreviated it and the name stuck.
Given the compelling sonic experimentation displayed on some of the other tracks on the YHF album, Jesus, Etc. sounds just like an understated, midtempo seventies strum. However, listen closely and you hear the song’s texture is enhanced by a terrific string part arranged by Tweedy, giving the tune a sense of melancholy introspection. He wrote the part to evolve as the song proceeds from the opening solo viola figure through the mass shimmering in the second verse, ensemble pizzicato in the third and onwards to the undulating viola section in the outro. Bennett’s distant pedal steel playing floats in behind, stepping forward to beautiful effect in the bridge section.
The song has some of the most beautiful lyrics that Jeff Tweedy has written. He sings poignantly of loss and love in an overwhelming world. Although released after 9/11, it was written and recorded before then and Tweedy has emphasised that the references to tall buildings are entirely coincidental. It is not a religious song per se – the opening Jesus reference is an exclamation not a proclamation – but it does seem to touch on the transient nature of existence: “You were right about the stars/Each one is a setting sun”. The redemptive power of love is expressed through another quasi-religious reference: “Our love is all of God’s money” and the chorus just soars with musical imagery:
“Tall buildings shake
Voices escape singing sad, sad songs
Tuned to chords, strung down your cheeks
Bitter melodies turning your orbit around”
Jesus, Etc. has been covered by a number of artists. Most notably, singer-songwriter (and Wilco fan) Norah Jones began performing Jesus, Etc. with her alt-country side project Puss’n’Boots in 2009. The band also recorded a studio version for their 2014 album No Fools, No Fun. Another notable cover was that by cult English singer-songwriter Bill Fay who recorded his version for his 2012 album Life Is People, his first collection of new songs since the 1970s. Fay slows the tune down and strips it bare with just piano and voice. Jeff Tweedy is a big Bill Fay fan and the band have performed a cover of his Be Not So Fearful on tours over the years.
There are numerous live versions of Jesus, Etc kicking around YouTube – I particularly enjoy the recording from the Jay Leno show in Sept 2003 where the fresh-faced band are joined by a string section. However, Bennett had been fired from the band by the time of this performance and, while Leroy Bach’s Hammond organ tries hard, I miss the pedal steel. So I’ve chosen to showcase a more recent talk show performance, this time on David Letterman in 2011 where a slightly grizzlier Tweedy fronts the long-term line up. They play it without the strings but with Nels Cline on a lap guitar.
I noted earlier that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot had an unusual release. It was recorded over an extended period when Tweedy was becoming addicted to prescription pain-killers and the sessions were marred by conflicts and arguments over how the songs were to be recorded. Their record company, the Warners subsidiary Reprise, refused to release the album as they considered its experimental sound was not commercial enough and Wilco left the label having acquired the rights to the album for no fee. They became one of the first bands to stream their album on-line for free. It was met with acclaim by many critics resulting in a 400% increase in their website usage and record ticket sales on their tour. Record companies began bidding to sign the band and release the album and Wilco inked a deal with Nonesuch, another subsidiary of Warners! The band selling their work back to the people who paid for it in the first place was captured in an atmospheric monochrome documentary shot by noted photographer Sam Jones. The film is titled I Am Trying To Break Your Heart after the opening track of YHF which is their third most played live song behind Jesus, Etc. which you can hear opening the trailer.
Last Word
Hmmmmm. Pere Ubu last week and now a niche Wilco track this week in full trainspotter detail. It might have been connected to a major news story of the last couple of weeks but I’m sure it is still stretching the audience’s patience to breaking point. I feel something much better known will have to follow next week – that, or a rethink…
AR
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