Jay Bennett

(Author’s note: This entry is in part about collaboration, so I think it’s only fair that I come clean and tell you that I’m a new contributor on this blog, and it’s my first entry. In the interest of collaboration, SuperChar contributed the picture, but the fair-to-poor quality of the entry is all mine. Cut me some slack.)

In the midst of high-profile celebrity death watches like Patrick Swayze and Farrah Fawcett, it’s hard to remember that sometimes celebrities die the old fashioned way: unexpectedly in their sleep. Such was the case with Jay Bennett, formerly of Titanic Love Affair, Wilco and of this world. But that's why he's here, I suppose...
Way way back in the 90’s, Bennett famously collaborated with Jeff Tweedy in Wilco, but it wasn’t Tweedy’s first difficult collaboration with someone named Jay. (Jay Farrar of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt is still alive, so at least we can rule out some weird ‘collaborators named Jay’ curse.)
Truth is, he was lacking money and health insurance to take care of an old stage diving injury (how cool is that – I mean the stage diving part, not the money part). He had even recently sued Tweedy for royalties from the film that made him look pretty prickly (with an emphasis on prick), ‘I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.’ He pretty much spent the rest of his life trying to not be that guy who was in Wilco, so let’s take a look at Jay Bennett’s life in relation to his time in Wilco.
There were a lot of of clues in Wilco’s third album, Summerteeth that this might be an issue sometime down the road. First of all, in the lyrics of a couple of the songs, health care was clearly an issue:
In ‘A Shot in the Arm,’ Tweedy sings “Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm” (over and over.) And in ‘She’s a Jar,’ he sings “I believe it’s all because Daddy’s paycheck is not enough.” Pretty eerie, right?
Even in the album title provides a healthcare cry of help. It’s derived from a hillbilly quote: “I’ve got summerteeth: summ ‘er there, sum aren’t.” Wilco trivia for the day. But if you're the kind of person who would like that bit of Wilco trivia, you probably already knew that one.
Sure, Jay Bennett didn’t really write any of those lyrics, but he might have helped name the album, and he definitely helped to make the music sound delicious. All strangeness aside, this is a great album, in large part because of Jay Bennett. That's what Jay Bennett meant to me. A driving force in shaping one of the most interesting bands out there.
True collaboration isn't easy. And a lot of times it really is painful. But damn, I pretty much remember the first time I heard any of the albums he played on. That's some serious influence.
Maybe it’s because he couldn’t sit still for long.
Now if you didn't like this entry, let me know. I did have a couple more angles:
1. People who I think look like they probably smelled a little funky. (Keith Richards, Puck, Delta Burke)
2. Some connection between Jay Bennett and JonBenet. Never gets old for me. JonBenet was from Boulder like me. And they both wore cowboy hats.