It's been a gloomy day here in New York City, following a gloomy weekend (in more ways than the weather). Autumn has really begun to sink its teeth into our necks. Feels like the right day for a pensive Halloween song that captures the spirit of the season and of our uncertain times. Jackson C. Frank was a folk musician at the beginning of a promising career in 1966 when he began a slide into mental illness that he would never quite recover from. Paul Simon had produced his self-titled debut album a year earlier, and although it was well-received, Jackson fell into a life-long battle with depression shortly after it was released. At one point he was diagnosed as schizophrenic, but he rejected that and maintained his troubles stemmed from a grade school furnace explosion that killed many of his friends and left him with lingering injuries. He ended up homeless in his later years, but was searched out by a fan who helped him record some demos of new songs.
Today's song, "Halloween Is Black as Night," is one of those demos. It and a few other new songs were released along with his 1965 self-titled album when it was finally put out on CD in 1996. Sadly Jackson Frank's life was cut short just three years later at age 56, but his legacy lives on in the many people who have uncovered his work and recorded his songs. Hardship and misfortune drip from his rough voice and plaintive guitar, and provide the best company misery can offer on a dark October night such as this.
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