Music |
Susan Werner
By
Published: May 13, 2015
Category:
Rock
Hello, darkness: In 2002, Katie Hafner’s 45-year-old husband went on a business trip — and died on a treadmill. So when Sheryl Sandberg’s husband died on a treadmill, Hafner wrote her a letter. It’s about sudden loss and endless aftermath, but it’s about much more than that — it’s about living with realities that seem to separate you from the rest of the world. That is, it’s universal. Will you need Kleenex? Yes. But as the poet wrote, “How bright a light there must be/ to cast so dark a shadow.” So….this.
William Novak — whose genius as a ghostwriter may be topped only by his ability to find obscure songs that should be classics — turned me on to “May I Suggest.” Written by Susan Werner and performed by Ms. Werner with a group called Red Molly, it was easy to love — unaccompanied women, singing in harmony, have a way of piercing the heart’s defenses.
Weeks passed. I kept coming back to that video, first for the performance, then for the song itself — the lyrics, the ideas. No way around it, in times of trouble, this is the kind of music you turn to. The first verse will suffice:
May I suggest
May I suggest to you
May I suggest this is the best part of your life
May I suggest
This time is blessed for you
This time is blessed and shining almost blinding bright
Just turn your head
And you’ll begin to see
The thousand reasons that were just beyond your sight
The reasons why
Why I suggest to you
Why I suggest this is the best part of your life
I poked around and I discovered that “May I Suggest” has been recorded a few times. (Why it hasn’t been on “Glee” eludes me.) And I found a video of Susan Werner, alone, performing the song at a gathering of writers. She’s wearing a t-shirt, shades pushed up. Hunched over her keyboard, her face contorts; like Joe Cocker, she merges visibly with the music.
So who is Susan Werner?
She was raised on a farm in Iowa, trained at music school, with a devoted following and a bunch of CDs, all in different styles. You can find her career, she’s said, “at the intersection of the Indigo Girls and Marlene Dietrich” — it’s quicksilver, and it changes. That is, each release is a surprise. [To buy the download of the MP3 of”May I Suggest” for 99 cents from Amazon, click here. To buy the download of the MP3 of that release, “New Non-Fiction,” click here.]
Who is Susan Werner? I called her.
Jesse Kornbluth: If you were to perform in support of the teachers’ union in Madison, Wisconsin, what would you sing?
Susan Werner: I’d go into my closet and find an old copy of “Sing Out,” then study up and write something new.
JK: And yet, at the gym, you watch Fox News.
SW: It keeps my heart rate up — it gets me energized and upset. You know, some people read murder novels.
JK: In 2001, you started your own label. Still a good idea?
SW: It works for me. I’m an American artist who performs in 48 states. If you want to be an international brand, you have to make some alliances.
JK: Do labels come a-courting?
SW: Yes, but not with enthusiasm, because they don’t know what I’m going to give them. They much prefer five records in a row that are the same thing.
JK: You write: “Already the grey is creeping in” and “My chin has started sinking.” What’s the Susan Werner beauty regime?
SW: Sleep. A lot of sleep. I don’t work tirelessly around the clock. Nothing will happen between 1 AM and noon. It’s only at 8 PM that I need to be interesting.
JK: You’ve written a powerful song called “My Different Son.” Do you have children?
SW: No. The best songs are written where imagination meets personal experience. To write speaking just for yourself — as a songwriter, that’s the lowest rung on the creative ladder.
JK: You were raised on a farm in Iowa. In a song, you write, “My daddy fed the world.” Really?
SW: In the early 1970s, America had a great romance with agriculture — you’d read how American farmers could feed Africa. And during that period, National Geographic took an aerial photograph of our farm.
JK: What were your chores?
SW: I drove the tractor, baled the hay, milked the cows — and I haven’t lost an arm.
JK: Are you a vegan?
SW: I have a sense of humor — why would I do that?
JK: Guilty pleasures?
SW: Bubble gum. Ten pieces at a time. Keeps me from smoking.
BONUS VIDEOS
“Sunday Morning”
“Probably Not”
“Mercy Mercy Me”
