Among many hits, many know Dion for is his 1968 recording of Dick Holler’s “Abraham, Martin and John.” Still, much of the folk music recorded in the 1970s by the rock and roll pioneer remains overlooked. Thus, it was a nice discovery to hear Dion’s recording of another song by Holler called “Sanctuary.” Holler co-wrote that song with Don Burnham.
Dion’s album Live at the Bitter End, August 1971, which was only recently released in 2015, is full of gems. But “Sanctuary” is one of those songs that grabbed me right way.
“Sanctuary” is more personal than “Abraham, Martin and John,” where the singer recalls arriving in San Francisco, where he has apparently arrived too late for the hopeful 1967 Summer of Love. He contemplates the despair of events going on around the country. Despite the unrest, the singer finds some solace in his friends, having “John and Mary/And Sanctuary/ And Telegraph Avenue.”
There might be war in the core of Baltimore,
Or breakdown in L.A.;
They bring you down in the heart of Memphis town,
People look the other way;
Well, if the lights burn cold in New York City,
It’s sad, but God it’s true,
I got John and Mary,
And Sanctuary,
Telegraph Avenue.
“Sanctuary” is a beautiful song about finding some personal peace amidst the turmoil of the world. And it remains timely now more than forty years later. AllMusic concludes that the song is “an utterly poignant, melancholic masterpiece that you can’t believe you haven’t heard more often.”
There currently is not a separate version of Holler’s “Sanctuary” on YouTube, but you may hear it on Dion’s Live At The Bitter End, 1971
Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Dion released both an LP and single of Dick Holler’s “Sanctuary” in 1971. Both discs just barely scratched the bottom rung on the charts. Dion does an excellent job on his version of Holler’s song and it would have made a perfect follow-up to Holler’s “Abraham, Martin and John”. But, Holler apparently wrote “Sanctuary” a few years after “A, M & J”, so obviously, that could not have happened. I’ve often put the two back-to-back on recordings I’ve made for the car and the two songs compliment each other extremely well by Dion’s superb recordings. About 1970, Holler released his own LP with his version of “A, M & J”, but he’s not much of a singer. “Sanctuary” is not on that LP. Furthermore, that record was produced by Phil Gernhard, who had long ties to Holler…and to Laurie Records, which did Dion’s early recordings and late, “A, M & J”. Gernhard was instrumental in introducing “A, M & J” to Dion. He would go on to produce Dion records including Dion’s 1971 LP, “Sanctuary.”