Clean Shirt (1991)

Clean Shirt (1991) Waylon & Willie

This came out the year I graduated from college. My initial judgment failed me once again. On the first listen this seemed to be a throwaway duet album. But on the second and third listens I discovered these gems: “I know what you’re thinkin’, and I don’t think you’re thinkin’ at all.” And then, “on second thought, if I can find a clean shirt I might.” Again, not thinking gets you in trouble, but thinking too much (having second and third thoughts) makes you crazy (“I still get crazy when I think of you” on “Tryin’ to Outrun the Wind”). And why do you need to find a clean shirt to act dirty?

“I don’t think much about the good old days, just about the good old nights.” “Talk about the good times, talk about the times the time was right.” Willie continues to think about time, and he continues to wrestle with his desires to be both clean and dirty, rock and roll, day and night, domestic and daring.

“You can’t make a rock from a rolling stone.” “Fiddles don’t make violins. Motel rooms don’t make homes.”

“Old age and treachery always overcomes youth and skill.” Wisdom and experience conquering time?

“I saw an angel once and the devil twice.”

“If you lose you still win. At least you got the making of a song.” Art can defeat time by turning it into music, the music of time. Art beats time by imposing a beat, by making a rock (a meter) out of a rolling stone.

“I’ve had some bad nights with the best of the blues.”

The harmonica stands out on some of these tracks, but the liner notes are no help in telling me whether it is Mickey Raphael. Only one hour of sleep last night so this is fragmentary and disjointed. The album is a surprising keeper.