From Robyn on Patreon in 2023
We pad across this sad world in our flesh modules, encased in ourselves - then one day each of us is released, back into the æther. Repatriated, you might say, into the pit of souls. The Band’s piano-player Richard Manuel, who wrote this haunting tune, sang Robbie Robertson’s lyrics in a way that, to me, embodies loneliness. It’s pretty much guaranteed to put tears on my face, and I’m one of many who feel that way. The fact that Richard ended his own life only seals that feeling in his listeners.

Davey Lane, guitarist extraordinaire in the band You Am I is also a nimble pianist, and joined me a few years ago during a rare British heat wave to play a version of this song at Twyford Village Hall, near Winchester. The suspended dust motes in the rays of evening sunlight caught the stillness in the song, contrasting with the foggy coastal imagery of the lyrics. You could argue that great lyrics don’t draw attention to themselves, they simply convey the mood of the tune; but you can argue almost anything if you want. ‘Whispering Pines’ is a great marriage of words and music. Twyford is an epicentre of great music, courtesy of the local promoter Oliver Gray, who’s done all my gigs in the Winchester area since the Soft Boys in 1978 at the Art School. But that’s a whole other story…