Whatever Happened Susan Anway?
True story: When I was 19 I was very depressed, the sort of depression you are only vaguely aware of at the time but a year or two later you look back and say what the f*** was that all about? Fortunately I got out of it. Around that time The Magnetic Fields (re)released their first two albums The Wayward Bus and Distant Plastic Trees on one CD. I played those songs over and over and over. Susan Anway's voice was perfect for Stephin* Merritt's melancholy tunes. She carried a distance in her voice that was at once detached and compelling. When you're really down it can be hard to trust people and some can be really mean to you, and not only in an imagined way. Sometimes those who perceive a weakness jump on it even if they're not conscious of it. Of course, this is a manifestation of their own suffering, but I didn't understand that when I was 19. Somewhere in that timeline as I was struggling to trust people I started having imagined conversations with Susan. We'd check in. All through that year we'd talk - a year later I'd write letters to Phil Ochs but that's a different story - and then we drifted apart.
I wrote this song a few years ago. I was checking in with my (imaginary) friend Susan as a thank you for getting me through a rough patch. I wanted to let her know things worked out and I was getting on more or less alright. I haven't played it for a minute, but it came to mind a few days ago when I learned the real life Susan Anway died, age 55. I know little of her music outside those first two Magnetic Fields albums, but her voice is always clear as a bell in my mind. What now? What then? Whatever happened? Rest in peace.
What I’m listening to
“Candy” by The Magnetic Fields with Susan Anway on vocals
Fatigue by L’Rain
The Wren, The Wren by Lisa O’Neill
Just about everything by Lankum
Welcome to The Jazz Buff's Skinny Arm. This is the inaugural post. I've been hemming and hawing over how to start this off and though it might be a sad opener, I felt it was a good tribute and maybe representative of what I will share in this space. I hope to write regularly though I don't know what that means just yet. Please sign up if you are into this sort of thing, I haven't thought up a fee structure yet, we'll see if and how that unfolds. I will be careful with your email if you do subscribe, using it to share new posts and upcoming music events I happen to be involved with. Cheers.
*Fairly certain in the song I'm mispronouncing Merritt's name, at the time I thought it was pronounced "Steven" so that's how it stayed in my mind. No disrespect intended.