While many grieved the death of the brilliant singer-songwriter Gram Parsons on September 19, 1973, nobody created as much beauty out of the tragedy as Emmylou Harris. Her song about Parson, “Boulder to Birmingham,” is one of the most beautiful country songs lamenting the loss of someone.
The Songwriters
Harris had been close to Parsons, who helped her career and featured her on his 1973 album GP. Harris, known more for her incredible voice and talent for interpreting songs, mined her heartbreak over the loss of a friend and mentor to co-write a wonderful lament.
Bill Danoff co-wrote “Boulder to Birmingham” with Parsons. Danoff, as part of the Starlight Vocal Band, later wrote and recorded the hit song, “Afternoon Delight,” a catchy pop song miles distant from the heartfelt lament in “Bolder to Birmingham.”
Danoff also recorded “Boulder to Birmingham” with Starlight Vocal Band in a version much softer than you might expect if you only know the band’s “Afternoon Delight.” Danoff knew how to craft songs, as he earlier co-write John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as well as “I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado.”
The Song “Boulder to Birmingham”
I would hold my life in his saving grace;
I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham,
If I thought I could see, I could see your face.
The most recognizable, and maybe the best, part of “Boulder to Birmingham” is the chorus (above). But the line that breaks my heart every time is: “Well you really got me this time;/ And the hardest part is knowing I’ll survive.” There’s great wisdom about loss in that line. In most cases of loss, we do survive somehow, but even knowing that does not make it easy.
Below, Emmylou Harris sings “Boulder to Birmingham” in 1975. In the background, you can see a young Rodney Crowell in singing backup (while “Boulder to Birmingham” followed a beautiful heartbreak song Crowell wrote, “‘Til I Gain Control Again”). At the time of the show, Harris was around twenty-eight years old, having lost Parsons around two years earlier.
“Boulder to Birmingham” originally appeared on Harris’s album Pieces of the Sky (1975). Since then, it has been covered by The Hollies, Dolly Parton, The Wailin’ Jennys, and Joan Baez, among others.
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