Obscure Titles Not in the Songs: Defying Gravity (#9)

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Yesterday I picked on @TheHorse (of course, that’s a favorite pastime around here ). I promised I’d post a song to soothe his ruffled mane after I stole his teaser discussion title. I’m keeping my word, presenting a song that’s in the “obscure” world of music that I listen to (him, too, for that matter) that doesn’t have the title in the lyrics. #9: Defying Gravity - Jesse Winchester I’m a musically inquisitive individual (if you haven’t figured that out from all the “weird stuff” I listen to ). I had two, count ‘em two covers of this song before I ever heard the songwriter’s version. Jimmy Buffett’s 1976 cover was my first exposure to the song. (Listening to Winchester’s original will tell you it’s right up Buffett’s alley.) Then Emmylou Harris did the song on her 1978 album Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town, making the song a little more serious than it should be. Winchester’s song about the earth is almost a child’s song, and it is easy to dismiss it as whimsical or lighthearted. However, Winchester, like a lot of his folkie/soft rock singer/songwriter peers in the 70s, could put a punch in a song at the end: “when I do fall, I will be glad to go.” Winchester “went,” dying of cancer in 2014, leaving a loyal following of fans and artists who’d covered his song far from “glad.” Defying Gravity Written by Jesse Winchester Recorded by Jesse Winchester From Learn to Love It, 1974 I’ll jump up and smile back at you: