Hello Hello
Can anybody please tell me what St. Clare is all about?

I've twisted my mind over and over and all I can see is some sort of waiting.
Can’t explain it very well...
Blue kisses
Ana

Hi Ana,

Don't know that I can answer your question, but here's some additional information. From Hugo's FAQ:

"St. Clare is the title of a song on Suzanne Vega's album Songs in Red and Gray. It is the first cover Suzanne has recorded on a regular album - the song is written by her friend Jack Hardy. In the song, St. Clare appears as a generic saint, but for those who are curious, here is the legend:

St. Clare (1194-1253) of Assisi was a follower of St. Francis and founder of "The Poor Clare Order" (1228), a community of women practicing poverty, austerity and contemplation. Clare was noble born, but refused to marry at the age of 12, and six years later she ran away from home to become a nun. It is said that she twice saved her home city Assisi from enemy armies - they fled at the sight of Clare holding the Sacrament at the city walls.

In 1958, Clare became patron saint of television by apostolic letter (feast day 11 August). The reason for this is that according to legend, she once saw a Christmas service in a vision when her health did not permit her to attend it physically."

... and from a Review in "The Student Voice":

"By far one of the best tracks on Songs in Red and Gray is a song not written by Vega. Written by longtime folk musician Jack Hardy, "St. Clare" sparks the thoughts associated with spring and renewal. Vega sings, "Watercress clings / To the bank of the stream / In the first grip of spring / When the snow melts to green.""

Eric

> tank you very much *** Ana

St. Clare is one of my favorite songs. It holds a special place for me because in April of last year I had the opportunity to see Suzanne, Jack Hardy, and several other performers such as Bob Hillman and Christine Lavin. The occasion was the release of "Vigil" and a set of shows at the Bottom Line in New York.

"St. Clare" was written by Jack Hardy and on this night Jack sang several songs that are favorites of mine; later, Suzanne played Jack's "St. Clare."

In my journal I wrote:

Undoubtedly, the highlight of the evening was Jack Hardy's set. One of these days I am going
to sit down with him and sort out the titles of these wonderful songs that he plays but of which he rarely announces their titles!

One song that he sang that I especially love is called "Ulley's Mill" (sp?), set in the olden days of Britain, just as steam textile mills began to replace the water-wheeled mills, and how a man dreams to marry the girl he saw for a moment, to save and work at the mill, only to see everything crumble when the mill closes down. Jack accompanied himself on a penny whistle; I could barely keep from crying. Every time I hear this song, I imagine an old man remembering back to a moment long ago when happiness might have been his, when his life was just a plaything of fate and chance. He never saw that woman again and I think he dies alone.

Aside from "I Ought to Know," most every song in Jack's set was cathartic to listen to, was a heart-wrenching experience. I love "Ulley's Mill" because it places ordinary people in the hopeless context of history: who of us will be remembered 300 years from now, much less a thousand? And how is one to make sense of the random events of history, when everything one might dream could be wiped away in a moment?

Listening to "Ulley's Mill," I could not help but think of what that song means in the context of the "Vigil" recording, which also chronicles a
moment when a thousand dreams ended unceremoniously. I think Jack ended his set with "On a Clear Day," one of two songs he sings on "Vigil." To hear it was heart-breaking beyond words. I will never forget it or the look on his
face as he sang it. What makes this song powerful is what is not said; one might not ever know its subject matter. Instead, its only when you get up
close to the words, when you realize just exactly what he is describing, that it hits you in the chest: the "canyon walls" of the city, the clear
blue sky of that fall day, clear enough that you could see "for miles;" the Hudson River; the "blazing colors;" the sudden roar; the low muttering moan; the clouds that looked "like smoke" as "they tower over there"; the autumn
leaves in the park; the horrible sound; the silence; and the faces of disbelief, of shock, of astonishment.

The song ends with these words:

"on a clear day I pray
he never saw it coming
never saw it coming
as he plied his work alone
on a clear day
if there's anyone left to pray to
anyone left to pray to
I pray it brought him home"

Later, in her set, Suzanne sang Jack's "St. Clare," perhaps the most beautiful song, along with "Rosemary," Suzanne has ever sung. I'll never
forget these songs -- "On a Clear Day" and "St. Clare" -- as I will never forget that fall day in September 2001.

"St. Clare" is a revelation; it is absolution, forgiveness, and hope. It is what I have needed. It is so clear and pure in sound (especially after the distortions of “Solitaire”) that it rises out of the speakers like the lady from the lake.

Suzanne sings like as an angel. I love the repetition of the “p’s” in “plaster and paint;” I love the sound of the words “could I but ride herd” in my mouth; I love the sound of the words “foam,” “souls,” “curl,” and “fire;” the way Suzanne says the word “desire” and how she sings out the words “call on that saint.”

I love the opening acoustic notes that are like the first rays of the sun and the slightly distorted and quavering sound of the mandolin; I love the way the mandolin and vocals accent each other in a phrase like “barefoot and cold;” I love the swirling strings and woodwinds that close
out the song.

The final words are both full of hope and sadness: you wait, with hope, for her return. But somehow, in the slight sadness that surrounds the song, in the ominous percussion beneath the final lines, in the way the song suddenly ends, you know that you will have to wait forever – she is not returning.

* * *

Sorry for such a long post. But "St. Clare," "Rosemary," and a few of Suzanne's other performances are important to me in ways that are hard to explain or measure. They are something close to an old photograph, not unlike the ones in "Blood Sings:"

"See his eyes and how they start with light
Getting colder as the pictures go".

Regards, Bruce

"In 1958, Clare became patron saint of television by apostolic letter (feast day 11 August). The reason for this is that according to legend, she once saw a Christmas service in a vision when her health did not permit her to attend it physically."

Is this where the term "clairvoyance" came from?

Clairwhatty?

Hi everyone,

Here's a clip of Suzanne playing St. Clare with Jack Hady at The Living Room in April, 2004. It didn't make it into the rough cut of the documentary but is a very nice performance, nonetheless.

http://homepage.mac.com/mooncusser/Vega/iMovieTheater175.html

Chris
http://www.SuzanneVegaFilm.com

I recently purchased a small figure of "St. Clare" (as a gift for someone) and on the packaging it says that she was born July 11, 1194.

Uncwilly