Friday, March 13, 2009

I’m a little bit country


As far as we know McCahon only used two song titles in his paintings and neither were great. Buttercup Fields Forever (not 'Buttercups' as in a McCahon database entry) was to our minds easily the worst with Rosegarden hot on its heels. So it’s good news to hear the suggestion by a friend of a friend that one of McCahon’s paintings was probably inspired by singer and songwriter Waylon Jennings. His song The Door is Always Open was written in 1975 and the chorus goes:

Yes the door is always open and the lights on in the hall And you know that I'll be waiting, if you ever come to call

And this just a year before McCahon painted Open Door which is inscribed with a precise of the chorus from Jennings’ song.
The door is always open / the lights on in the hall.