Matapedia by Kate & Anna McGarrigle.

Sunday afternoon: The weather has changed here. Yesterday it was freezing, and suddenly today it is up to 12 degrees C. On the downside however, the 9^th named storm of this winter called Storm Isha is set to slam into Britain with 60mph winds and heavy rain forecast. Time to batten down the hatches, so I am hunkered down in my kitchen and listening to music. I thought to pass the time I’d tell you about the album I am listening to at this very moment. It is called Matapedia by Kate & Anna McGarrigle. I have always loved the McGarrigle sisters, ever since I bought their debut album in Andy’s Records on Bridge St Peterborough back in the hot summer of 76. 

To this day it remains one of my favourite albums of all time. It is a classic, but to my shame it has been the only one of their albums in my collection until I ordered Matapedia a couple of weeks ago. I also regret never having seen them perform live. They did headline the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury in 2002, but I missed that because it clashed with Rod Stewart on the Pyramid Stage and Kim wanted to see Rod. I’ll never get the chance to see them again because Kate sadly died in 2010. Anyway, no point in mulling over the past. It is only now that matters.

The excellent title track Matapedia opens the album. I didn’t know what Matapedia meant, so I looked it up on Wiki. It is the name of a river and municipality in Quebec Canada. Kate’s daughter Martha Wainwright is mentioned in the lyrics and Martha helps out on vocals. Kate speaks and sings the words. Anna plays accordion and Zoel Zimkin plays violin. The song is driven along by the percussion of Michel Pepin. 

Matapedia River.

Goin’ Back To Harlan is the song that made me decide to buy this album because I have enjoyed hearing it many times on youtube. Harlan is a mythical place of nostalgia, longing, and the bittersweet journey of returning to one’s roots. (You must watch the video below!) Anna wrote this wonderful song which has mention of Bells of Rhymney which I know best by The Byrds. It also mentions Shady Grove which Fairport turned into Matty Groves. I don’t need to tell you any more about this song if you watch the video. Kate wrote I Don’t Know which is just herself on piano and vocals. It is a love song of regret and the sentiment reminds me of Go Leave on the debut album. I wonder if it was inspired by the end of her marriage to Loudon Wainwright?.  Maybe not because they were divorced twenty years before this album. 

By contrast, Hang Out Your Heart rocks out. The lyrics about rain and gale-force winds seem very appropriate for today. The song features some great guitar by Pat Donaldson who I remember from the band Fotheringay. The drums of Sylvan Clavet are also to the fore. Arbre is written by Philippe Tatartcheff and sung in French by Anna. My French is very poor, but I know arbre means tree, so I think it is a love song of a tree, ‘By the wind, In the space of a moment, I give up my leaves to the caresses of my lover’. When I first saw the title of the next song Jacques Et Gilles I immediately thought of the nursery rhyme Jack And Jill but it isn’t that. It is a song about two French Canadian workers who work in a mill in the USA and are homesick. Certain words in the lyrics made me wonder if it was inspired by Jack Kerouac. Words like Lowell, Merrimac, and Ti Jean. (See photo below of Kate & Anna having a book signed by Jack Kerouac’s daughter Jan) The two protagonists of the song hate their bosses Paddy & Katie Boyle but realise that they came from Ireland and would like to go home as well. 

Anna wrote Why Must We Die? Which I didn’t like the lyrics of at first. ‘We are men of constant sorrow, we’ll have trouble all our days’, is a bit depressing. However, Anna might have still been grieving the death of her mother at the time because the next track Song For Gaby is a sad song about the death and funeral of their mother. Sister Jane and son Rufus are mentioned in the very poignant lyrics, as is their hometown of St-Sauveur. Talk About It written by Kate is a much more upbeat and fun song with Kate on vocals, banjo and piano. Finally, the last track The Bike Song is written by Anna and brings the album to a close on a high note. I don’t know why it was called The Bike Song, maybe the words just came to her when she was cycling along. I’m pleased I finally bought this excellent album 28 years after it was released and have thoroughly enjoyed listening to it on a dark stormy Sunday afternoon in January. Cheers.

Somebody put this photo on Facebook a few months ago (Thank you). It shows Kate & Anna having a book signed by Jack Kerouac's daughter Jan Kerouac. I'm guessing that the book is Jan's autobiography called Baby Driver. It shows that the McGarrigle sisters were Kerouac fans!. You can see that Jan had a very strong resemblance to Jack.