What a beautiful song this is. I’ve really been diving into Texas songwriters. CB sent me this one and it’s fantastic. It’s a great one that I’ve been listening to for a few weeks.
The acoustic rhythm guitar in this is catchy and intricate at the same time. We have heard the phrase of a musician’s musician…well this is the same to other songwriters. I like good songwriting and this is a great example of it. The words flow out perfectly.
The song was written by Joe Ely and Will Sexton. The song was released in 1996 and was on the album Letter To Laredo. This is songwriting at its finest. Springsteen contributed to two songs on the album including this one. Bruce traveled to Austin around the spring of 1995 and joined Ely in the studio to record his parts.
Ely has 16 studio albums and 20 singles in his career so far. This album charted at #68 on the Billboard Country Charts. He has charted quite a few in the Charts.
Joe Ely: “I like to tell in a song where the location is, paint the background, and then bring it into a rhythmic world and try to find something that doesn’t take away from it, but adds to it.”
Joe Ely and Bruce Springsteen in 2001.
All Just To Get To You
I have stumbled on the plains
Staggered in the wind
Stood at a crossroad or two
Cried to a river
Swept to the sea
All just to get to you
I have flagged a yellow cab
Hopped a rusty freight
Sang till my lips turned blue
Flown a silver bird
On the tops of the clouds
All just to get to you
I ran too hard
I played too Rough
I gave my Love
Not near Enough
I bled too red
I cried too blue
I beat my fist
Against the moon
All just to get to you
I have run from St. Paul
To Wichita Falls
Call’d you from sunny Baton Rouge
Hocked everything
From my watch to my ring
All just to get to you
I ran too hard
I played too Rough
I gave you Love
Not near Enough
I bled too red
I cried too blue
I beat my fist
Against the moon
All just to get to you
From the California Shore
Where the mighty ocean roars
To the lands of the Hopi and the Sioux
I walked the desert sands
Crossed the Rio Grande
All just to get to you
I have stumbled on the plains
Staggered in the wind
Stood at a crossroad or two
Cried to a river
Swept to the sea
All just to get to you
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Great song. I have to admit that up until about a month ago I knew nothing about Joe Ely nor could I have named one song that he sang until I stumbled across his lovely ballad “If You Were a Bluebird.” Now, here you are posting this song of his (with The Boss no less), and I went back and read your “Musta…” post as well. Very cool information about Joe, and a lot of good “new” songs for me to dig into!
Thanks for the post. Keep up the good work!
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Thank you so much for that, I apprecite it! I didn’t know much about him until a few months ago when fellow blogger CB (cincinnatibabyhead) mentioned him… That led me down the path to the other Texas writers like Townes Van Zant, Guy Clark, and others.
I’ll check out If You Were a Bluebird…I never heard that one.
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Joe Ely has a nice deep voice, and I would enjoy listening to more of his stuff.
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You know I like these Texas singers but I probably know less about Joe than I should. This is a great song.
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This song didn’t have to grow on me…it’s catchy right off the bat…plus a quality song. I don’t know if I can explain this right…but Ely has a knack for making longer deep songs catchy…which is a talent in itself.
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He does, I’m puzzled as to why he isn’t covered a lot more, particularly this song. But it’s a singer songwriter genre so everyone wants to do their own stuff.
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when The Boss likes your work and wants to perform with you, you must have something going right! Another guy I’ve heard of but haven’t consciously known the music of. Just trying to get the video to play now…
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I like the intricate guitar…usually those kind of songs don’t flow as well…but Ely makes this work well.
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Joe Ely was part of Los Super Seven (with Flaco Jimenez, Freddy Fender, members of Los Lobos) and sang Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee” beautifully with them. I’ll admit to preferring the Bruce-less version with Dobro and nylon-stringed guitar instead of Telecasters.
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I will cover them soon…I’ve meant to already.
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I wasn’t aware of the song but it was instant love, Max. Joe Ely is another music artist I’ve known by name only. Dang it, there are just too many of them, though it’s a nice problem to have! 🙂
Any albums you can recommend as an entry point, based on your listening to date?
In meantime, I’m going to add him to my growing list for a future Sunday Six!
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No…I”ve listened to more of his songs than one album…but usually with an artist…I usually go to the first couple…I know he had some good songs on those two.
Cool Christian! Thanks!
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Yes, wonderful songwriting, catchy, unforced, epic without being overblown.
(Did I mention Rodney Crowell, ‘Texas Flood?’ Songwriting that hits that sweet spot between humour and bitterness.)
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Glad you mentioned him Obbverse… I want to hear more of him while I’m visiting these Texas guys…there is so many of them and most are quality…those in this click.
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Well Max Ely and Morrison. I guess you know why I tune in. When we first started talking about Joe I didn’t say a lot (Way too much history) because I knew if you liked him that you’d dig and get hooked. You have certainly done that.
Just a great song. I guess Bruce knew it was also. I see in the comments below ‘If You Were a Bluebird’. That song is up with ones like ‘Waterloo Sunset’, ‘Makes No Difference’ and a bunch more for me. Oh yeah, I mention dig. Check out Joe’s ‘Dig All Night’. You picked a good one today.
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Great song and the duet with Springsteen was awesome.
I have heard quite a bit about Joe Ely. Having lived in Texas, he is quite well known, right up there with Willie & Waylon. He’d come to SXSW.
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Oh I just discovered him a few months ago and posted something about him…yes he is a top shelf songwriter!
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I’ll be doing more Texas songwriters…I did Robert Earl Keen, Townes Van Zandt, and the next on the list is Rodney Crowell
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Stevie Ray, too?
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Yea…I’ve done him…I’m talking more the singer songwriters who are not known as well…but you know I like him…like Willy The Wimp and and His Cadillac Coffin…thats my favorite by him.
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Damfine, especially with Bruce singing harmony. Sounds like song Bruce would write.
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Yes it does Lisa…these Texas songwriters…are just unbelievable with the quality of songs they come out with.
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So many great memories of live Joe Ely shows. In 1980, I moved from Springsteen country to Texas and my salvation was seeing Joe play about every other week. In his prime, he was right up there with the Boss as one of the best live performers in the business.
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That is what everyone has told me about him…now I’ve started to explore all of the Texas writers.
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