Margaret A. Roche (1951 - 2017)
Maggie Roche died of cancer a few days ago. She was 65.
I doubt anyone on my friends list knows who she was. Maggie and her sisters (Terre and Suzzy) never broke through on the pop charts. You might have seen them on Saturday Night Live in the early '80s singing Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" a capella in their signature three-part harmony. Or you might have seen the episode of Tiny Toons in the '90s when they voiced a singing trio of (you guessed it) roaches.
But Maggie and her sisters were my entry point into the world of American and then English folk music. In college, I was a nu wave/prog rock nerd reviewing albums for my school newspaper, and I saw that the Roches' third album, "Keep On Doing," was produced by King Crimson lead guitarist Robert Fripp. I was curious; folk wasn't usually Fripp's area. What did he see in this act?
I took one listen and I didn't ask any more dumb questions.
Folk music is usually seen as deadly serious, dealing with John Henry, sticking to the union, and Masters of War (and such). The Roches took the usual weapons of traditional folk and wedded them to the personal/confessional style of Joni Mitchell, with heaping doses of sarcastic humor. They were part of a 70s and 80s folk movement that included Loudon Wainwright III, Christine Lavin and David Massengill...
But the Roches were special to me. I saw their concert at Carnegie Hall on the tour for that album; the sisters were outside before the show, giving away homemade commemorative buttons. I remember spending hours in their brother David's basement recording studio with Roche family friend (and folksinger) Ilene Weiss, laying down vocals for a song protesting the Baltimore Colts' move to Indiana.
(Sigh. Ilene. She's another story. But not today.)
So many great shows at Folk City and the Bottom Line (both long gone), so many great nights with friends (long gone)...
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Maggie's great songs combined the perspective of an older woman looking back at her past with the raw feelings of her younger self. Take the opening lyrics of "West Virginia" (from the Seductive Reasoning LP), sung over Maggie's solo piano:
Nineteen
Charleston
Mescaline
He said he was a genius
B plus average
Political leanings
And a talent for stealing things
There was always a note of wistfulness in Maggie's songs, of regret--but also joy and wry humor. Her protagonists took big chances and made big mistakes, but they wouldn't have grown and become better people if they didn't take those chances.
If you can, cue up "Underneath the Moon," "Losin' True," "Quitting Time," and (her all-time classic) "Hammond Song." They opened up new worlds for me.
I doubt anyone on my friends list knows who she was. Maggie and her sisters (Terre and Suzzy) never broke through on the pop charts. You might have seen them on Saturday Night Live in the early '80s singing Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" a capella in their signature three-part harmony. Or you might have seen the episode of Tiny Toons in the '90s when they voiced a singing trio of (you guessed it) roaches.
But Maggie and her sisters were my entry point into the world of American and then English folk music. In college, I was a nu wave/prog rock nerd reviewing albums for my school newspaper, and I saw that the Roches' third album, "Keep On Doing," was produced by King Crimson lead guitarist Robert Fripp. I was curious; folk wasn't usually Fripp's area. What did he see in this act?
I took one listen and I didn't ask any more dumb questions.
Folk music is usually seen as deadly serious, dealing with John Henry, sticking to the union, and Masters of War (and such). The Roches took the usual weapons of traditional folk and wedded them to the personal/confessional style of Joni Mitchell, with heaping doses of sarcastic humor. They were part of a 70s and 80s folk movement that included Loudon Wainwright III, Christine Lavin and David Massengill...
But the Roches were special to me. I saw their concert at Carnegie Hall on the tour for that album; the sisters were outside before the show, giving away homemade commemorative buttons. I remember spending hours in their brother David's basement recording studio with Roche family friend (and folksinger) Ilene Weiss, laying down vocals for a song protesting the Baltimore Colts' move to Indiana.
(Sigh. Ilene. She's another story. But not today.)
So many great shows at Folk City and the Bottom Line (both long gone), so many great nights with friends (long gone)...
***********
Maggie's great songs combined the perspective of an older woman looking back at her past with the raw feelings of her younger self. Take the opening lyrics of "West Virginia" (from the Seductive Reasoning LP), sung over Maggie's solo piano:
Nineteen
Charleston
Mescaline
He said he was a genius
B plus average
Political leanings
And a talent for stealing things
There was always a note of wistfulness in Maggie's songs, of regret--but also joy and wry humor. Her protagonists took big chances and made big mistakes, but they wouldn't have grown and become better people if they didn't take those chances.
If you can, cue up "Underneath the Moon," "Losin' True," "Quitting Time," and (her all-time classic) "Hammond Song." They opened up new worlds for me.