The Humpback Whale
This is the beginning of an occasional series of letters to my friend Moobie, who passed away in summer 2023.
Dear Moobie,
I have “The Humpback Whale” from Trad Arr Jones stuck in my head and it’s all your fault. I played the album for “Little Musgrave” and the fuzzy guitars on “Canadee-I-O” and “Billy, Don’t You Weep for Me” and then it was “The Humpback Whale” and here we are, three days later, and I can’t get it out of my head.
All this is to say, I miss you. I can’t text you when I think of something funny or to share my delight over the Secret Series. We talked about how much Steven would have loved it and I hate that you don’t get to listen to the rest of the albums.
Wes’s rendition of “The Person You Are” on the Secret Series edition of The Name Above the Title is extraordinary. It’s sung so tenderly that it transforms from a song that’s a little bit angry into one’s older self forgiving their younger self’s foibles. I love it and you would have loved it, too.
So many good memories: eating at Serrano’s so we could sit at an actual table at the Tin Angel and complaining about the terrible service and their weird menu restrictions, the SLUTS t-shirts, discussions about what we were going to holler at Wes when it came time for requests.
I’ll be requesting “Ordinary Weekend” the next time I’m at a Wes show. Because.
Love always,
Natalie
C.S.E. Cooney encouraged me to start this series. Thank you, Claire.