SONGWRITER'S ANATOMY CLASS: "I Talk To The Wind"
The melancholy King Crimson song that has ministered to many
SONGWRITER’S ANATOMY CLASS—STUDIES IN SONG CRAFT: Today’s sample is “I Talk to the Wind,” a song written by Ian McDonald with lyrics by Pete Sinfield. The best known recording of it was the second track on the 1969 landmark first album by King Crimson:
It’s a bittersweet but elegant segue from the jarring and metallic jazz dystopia of KC’s anthemic “21st Century Schizoid Man.” Sinfield’s lyrics seem to be about a person, “the straight man,” trying to communicate with someone who is self-absorbed or narcissistic, “the late man.” The conversation is in vain, so “straight man” decides to move on and be done with being discouraged and frustrated with someone who isn’t listening (lyrics below)*.
McDonald and Sinfield played critical roles in launching King Crimson, a flagship band in British classic rock and progressive music. Guitarist Robert Fripp reportedly said he never intended to be sole proprietor of the King Crimson brand, and he cited McDonald as a co-founder even though he left after two albums. McDonald pursued other ideas with the KC spin-off McDonald & Giles (a fascinating footnote of 70s hippie prog-rock).
Later he co-founded rock supergroup Foreigner—I bought the first Foreigner LP sight-unheard simply because McDonald’s name was on it. His 1999 solo album DRIVERS EYES is also well worth seeking. With his passing in 2022 I realized that, early in my music career, he was a key inspiration on a list of multi-instrumentalists I sought to emulate (Emitt Rhodes, Roy Wood, and others), if for their derring-do spirit and pursuit of excellence.
McDonald’s touchstone “I Talk to the Wind” went through key changes and experiments but always centered on harmonics built with darkly subdued guitar and rich, vibrant reeds, perhaps to underline “wind.”
The early 1968 Giles Giles Fripp version featured singer Judy Dyble duetting with bassist Peter Giles:
Dyble had just left Fairport Convention was brought into the fold by then-boyfriend McDonald, who said the song was inspired by Joni Mitchell.
Dyble’s later version had a more obvious folk-jazz intention:
These iterations compare with similar jazz-folk-pop fusions by Donovan and Fairport (who had career intersections with KC). The signature 1969 KC version was sung by Greg Lake (with McDonald and drummer Michael Giles on harmony). Pop Matters called it “a stunning tone-poem of melancholy (that) somehow manages to be somber and gorgeous,” and the song has gone on to provide comfort and grounding to many stressed out people, me included. One fan wrote (in 2021): “A few years I was living in my friends basement due to being forcibly removed from home. It was the roughest time of my life and I remember listening to this very late at night when my head was full of negative thoughts. It helped me remain calm and would put me to sleep despite the conditions.”
There is a deep bond amongst KC fans, several of whom are my friends and suggested I cover certain KC songs. “I Talk to the Wind” has spoken to me since I was a teenager. I video’d my version with little preparation, raw-recording it at home on 21 January 2021 (1-21-21). I forsook the solos, not daring to replicate McDonald’s sublime flute work on the original:
Online one can find numerous covers of the song by artists from several countries. Check out this 2014 rendition by German musician Bastian Schuhbeck:
Discussion questions:
1) What are some spiritual and philosophic undertones in using “the wind” as a metaphor? Examples: The Japanese folk song “Who Has Seen the Wind?”, or the words of Christ in John 3 as He spoke with the highly educated priest Nichodemus.
2) What songs like this ministered to you when you were going through hard times?
3) Can sharing feelings of melancholy make you feel better?
SONG ANATOMY CLASS is a course in analyzing and appreciating the art of songwriting. The mission is to learn from and celebrate the accomplishment of creating a song, from raw idea to arrangement to production. If you’d like my review on a song, please send me a link. Cheers, JJB
*“I Talk to the Wind” lyrics by Pete Sinfield:
Said the straight man
To the late man
Where have you been?
I’ve been here and I’ve been there and
I’ve been in between
(Chorus) I talk to the wind, but my words are all carried away
I talk to the wind, but the wind does not hear
The wind cannot hear
I’m on the outside
Looking inside
What do I see?
Much confusion
Disillusion
All around me (repeat chorus)
You don’t possess me
Don’t impress me
Just upset my mind
Can’t instruct me
Or conduct me
Just use up my time (repeat chorus)
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