Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris – In My Hour of Darkness

I was talking to a friend of mine who is reading a Gram Parsons book and I learned something from him that I didn’t know about this song. This song is a tragic song about three friends. Linda Ronstadt also appears on this one. The song is credited to Parsons and Harris. 

 The song is structured as a series of verses recounting the stories of three real individuals, each meeting a tragic end. The first verse of this song is about actor/musician Brandon deWilde. Parsons was friends with deWilde in the sixties and early seventies. He was in films and TV shows such as Shane, The Virginian TV Series, Hawaii Five-O, and many others. He started a music career and Gram Parsons helped him out in the sixties. Some have said no one could sing harmony better with Gram than deWilde excluding Harris. 

In 1972 he was in Denver doing a stage production of Butterflies Are Free and he was killed in a camper van that hit a guardrail, truck, and then rolled. He was 30 years old. 

The second verse was about Byrds’ extremely gifted guitar player Clarence White. An incredible country guitar player who co-invented with Gene Parsons the B-Bender that Telecasters use. He joined the Byrds around the time that Gram was leaving. He and his brother Roland White were loading equipment in their car and a drunk driver killed Clarence but Roland survived. 

The third person was Sid Kaiser, a talent agent and producer in Los Angeles.  He died of a heart attack a few days after Clarence White. Gram would pass on a few months after Keiser. 

The sessions for “Grievous Angel” took place in 1973, primarily at Wally Heider Studios in Los Angeles. Parsons worked with renowned musicians, including members of Elvis Presley’s TCB Band: James Burton (guitar), Glen D. Hardin (piano), and Ronnie Tutt (drums), among others.

Rock critic Ben Fong-Torres: “Because Gram never lived to see through the details of the album including the order of songs…’Darkness’ was placed at the end of the second side, partly because it made sense, and partly because it could easily be read as a song about Gram himself, in particular, the lines he wrote for Clarence:”

In My Hour of Darkness

In my hour of darknessIn my time of needOh Lord, grant me visionOh Lord, grant me speed

Once I knew a young manWent driving through the nightMiles and miles without a wordWith just his high beam lightsWho’d have ever thought they’d buildSuch a deadly Denver bendTo be so strong, to take so longAs it would ’til the end

In my hour of darknessIn my time of needOh Lord, grant me visionOh Lord, grant me speed

Another young man safely strummedHis silver string guitarAnd he played to people everywhereSome say he was a starBut he was just a country boyHis simple songs confessAnd the music he had in himSo very few possess

In my hour of darknessIn my time of needOh Lord, grant me visionOh Lord, grant me speed

Then there was an old manKind and wise with ageAnd he read me just like a bookAnd he never missed a pageAnd I loved him like my fatherAnd I loved him like my friendAnd I knew his time would shortly comeBut I did not know just when

In my hour of darknessIn my time of needOh Lord, grant me visionOh Lord, grant me speed

Oh Lord, grant me visionOh Lord, grant me speed

…

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

24 thoughts on “Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris – In My Hour of Darkness”

    1. I knew the song but didn’t pay enough attention to the lyrics. To find out it’s about 3 people was surprising to me…but it works on different levels.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    1. I had no clue about that CB so it was all new to me. Clarence White has always been a guitar player I’ve looked up to…he was great in bluegrass and country.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. So many off the charts musicians like Clarence around. I used to look at the credits more back when.. I still dig once in a while. It’s cool to see these names pop up. Love this kind of insight Max.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. A cool short story about his guitar if you don’t mind. Marty Stuart bought his guitar years after he died and while taking it apart…he found an acid blotter inside lol…something that Clarence stashed away.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. I’m sure stuff like that happens a lot. I wonder what they found in Keith Moon’s drum kit?
        Marty Stuart has a place in my listening. He certainly carries the torch for the tradition of country music plus he is a great player.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I really like him and his song Hummingbyrd…but yea he is not like the typical Nashville Cats so to speak.
        Keith Moon’s hiding places…that would be a book by itself.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. good downbeat tune and it has an interesting history as you’ve told us. Great trio of musicians there (even if Linda didn’t get the name credit). First time I heard of Gram was back in the late-’80s I think, when I read reviews of Blue Rodeo comparing them to him so I thought, ‘hmm this Parsons guy must be pretty good!’

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I have to wonder Dave…if he would have lived if 90s alt country would have started a hell of a lot sooner. He very well could have changed a lot of that genre’s direction or started it earlier.

      Like

      Reply

  8. New one to me. So much more powerful with the back stories. The book (section of a larger book) I read on Gram, he had a terrible relationship with his dad and his stepdad, so the “old man” in here may have been the surrogate father he never had 😦 This sounds like an old hymn and also a mantra for peace.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. Pingback: Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris – In My Hour of Darkness – MobsterTiger

Leave a comment