Skip James made claim
His songs appeared in dreams
Fully-formed
A haunting other-worldly ambience
Attests the truth in this – they stand aloof
His cool poetic temperament
Considering the vagaries of man
Makes his stance appear
More custodian than singer
When Skip James was in the hospital
A friend played him a tape
Cream’s combustive bombast
Assumed his signature-song
‘I’m So Glad’
He listened then he said
‘I guess they just don’t get it’
Dispassionate as a Delta
Delphic Oracle of harp-like minor chords
Falsetto vocal swoops and glides
Few believed back then
Black ‘gladness’ might contra-indicate
Undiagnosed grief and depression
This did not appear in European
Textbook interpretation
Re-discovered then re-set in concert
He seemed a self-reliant soloist –
Some knew Robert Johnson
Had listened to his records
Absorbed his eerie supernatural charm –
Subtle and urbane as modern jazz
He invited listeners into his trance
Played his psychic vision of the blues
.
Bernard Saint
Illustration: Claire Palmer
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