Mickey Newbury - Harlequin Melodies FLAC

With his band The Embers, Mickey opened for several first rate acts back in the mid 60’s, including Johnny Cash and Sam Cooke. Like many, prior to the release of Harlequin Melodies, he was working for a publishing company, penning songs for Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Solomon Burke, The Box Tops, First Edition, Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Nelson and Roy Orbison … a virtual who’s who of the music industry.

Harlequin Melodies was the result of this hippie-cowboy stringing together some of his old songs that had been made famous by others, along with some new ones, in the hopes of resurrecting his musical career, all while rebelling against the conservative conventions and structure of the Nashville music scene, with friends like Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt.

Mickey is said to have disowned this album that made nothing more than a few ripples, feeling that it was a false start, that Looks Like Rain more aptly represented his nature. Largely the album was entirely overproduced and laden with far too many shifting melodies and tempos, along with instrumentational touches that were disorienting and distracting … but this was 1968, the recording studio was a wide open adventure, with folks seeing what worked and what didn’t. A goodly number of the tracks found here would find their way onto future albums, reworked and re-envisioned, where they would shine with more light and grace.

Others would have far more success with Mickey’s music, he was always a difficult artist to pin down or define. I’ve often wondered if Mickey sincerely knew who he was or what direction he wished to take, as by the time he died at 62 (born in 1940) the man was preforming randomly if at all, and in all those years recorded but ten albums. He and Townes traveled the same path, as did Gram Parsons, took life on their own terms. Mickey had great shows and shows where nearly everyone walked out, he tried his hand at Christianity and a number of other philosophies, but those offered him nothing. Mickey wove some great stories and penned some great songs, yet he didn’t have the vision to take those ideas to the next level, make them relevant and necessary.

Harlequin Melodies isn’t all that great, though none of Newbury’s albums were. The record has its charms and it has its moments, though after all is said and done, Mickey will be remembered for what others did with his visions. And therein lies the problem for the lonely singer songwriter, they don’t have a band with a vested interest to infuse ideas, as bandmates exist outside the head of the writer, hence songs are able to be channeled in different and more pleasing directions.

I know most of Mickey’s albums, and have never felt that what he recorded was anything more than inspired sketches.

*** The Fun Facts: As mysterious as the song itself, there are a number of stories floating around as to how Newbury came to write what may be the first psychedelic country song. It’s not an anti or pro-drug song, it just is what it is, claims Mickey, who said, “I wrote this number one night after waking up in hell.” Seems that back in the 60s, when the man was still struggling, he frequently found that he didn't have enough gas money to take him from one gig to another. When that would happen, which was more often then he’d like to consider, he would jump a freight train and ride for free. Out past Beaumont, Texas one night, while jumping a boxcar, he swung back, hit the side of the car, fell and fractured his back. It was the middle of the night when he found himself in the hospital in relentless pain, despite being given copious amounts and types of pain killers. While this pharmacopeia didn't stop the pain over the next few days, it did induce a series of cinematic dreams and wayward hallucinations. “Just Dropped In” was the result of several painful nights deeply under the influence, a true to life tale.

Review by Jenell Kesler