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Liner Notes

A weekly column by Tampa Tribune pop music critic Curtis Ross

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By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 19, 2009

I listened to Carole King's "Tapestry" for the first time in a long while this past weekend. The album seemed incredibly deep and grown-up and mysterious when I had the 8-track at age 11. Now that most of its mysteries have been revealed, "Tapestry" seems sometimes spot-on ("It's Too Late"), sometimes naïve ("Where You Lead") and sometimes like bad prog-rock minus the gory synthesizers (the title track). (And gory synthesizers are the best part of bad prog-rock.)

But the song that had the most current resonance, unfortunately, was "Smackwater Jack," in which the title character gets a shotgun and shoots "down the congregation" before he's captured and hanged.

It used to sound like some sort of Wild West story, but this time it made me think of the recent killings in southeast Alabama. They occurred about 25 miles from where I grew up and where my parents still live, so my reaction to them was more than the usual pained numbness when something this insane happens.

Michael McLendon was a real life Smackwater Jack, "in the mood for a little confrontation" and who, from the sound of it, "couldn't take no more abuse," or at least what he felt was abuse.

So he burned down a house with his mother in it and then shot and killed 9 other people, family and strangers both, before killing himself.

And suddenly, the jaunty melody and rhythm of "Smackwater Jack," not to mention the casual descriptions of the lyrics, felt like a disconnect. I wondered whether King would write a song like that today. When "Tapestry" was released in 1971, mass killings didn't occur with the sickening frequency they seem to now.

This isn't to criticize art that concerns violence or any other hot-button topic. But while we expect art to hold up a mirror to reality, sometimes reality can hold up a mirror to art -- and in this case, the reflection isn't attractive at all.

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568.

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