![]() ![]() “Again, it’s one of those serendipitous things,” says Henry of the Coleman contribution. The song includes some stirring sax work by jazz giant Ornette Coleman, whose inspired blowing intensifies the lyrics’ sense of a spiritual free fall. In the stark “Richard Pryor”, Henry sings in the first person, standing in Pryor’s shoes, drearily contemplating the comedian’s life and career. I thought it was cumbersome and pretentious, and I tried to get rid of it, but that just seemed to be the title of the song.” And then the title just kind of appeared. “Richard had been very much on my mind for one reason or another, and as I was writing that song I realized pretty quickly that it was he that I was speaking of. “Usually I find out what I’m writing about by writing,” notes Henry from his L.A. The CD opens with the compellingly low-key tribute “Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation”. He recently met Pryor, who’s suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years, and dedicated his new album, Scar, to the ailing comic genius. singer-songwriter Joe Henry, who opens for Emmylou Harris at the Orpheum next Thursday (June 28), feels the same way. His ability to see the pain and beauty in the stark-naked truth-and laugh right at it-just made him a hero to me. ![]() And I couldn’t put down his brutally honest biography, Pryor Convictions, when it was released in ’95. ![]() Back in the ’70s I used to buy all his records later on I’d go see all his concert movies, or rent them on video. Richard Pryor is my favourite comedian of all time. ![]()
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