That Sort Of A Squirrel Thing

Connie Converse “Talkin’ Like You (Two Tall Mountains)”

This song was recorded sometime in the mid-1950s, and was essentially lost to time until it was reissued last year by Lau derette Recordings. Connie Converse was a songwriter living in New York City, she was totally unknown in her time, and eventually disappeared without a trace. That’s a good story, but this is a great song, and easily one of the best I’ve ever heard about the virtues of living a lonely life. There’s no self-pity in this music. Her solitude is a choice, and she sings about not feeling alone, because she senses the presence of her former partner in everything around her. She is playful and witty, but doesn’t entirely downplay her feelings so much as remove the intensity. She sounds totally at peace with her life.

The melody of the song is lovely, the structure is slightly odd and rather poetic. She begins the song by singing “in between two tall mountains / there’s a place they call lonesome / don’t see why they call it lonesome / I’m never lonesome when I go there” and this refrain bookends the main body of the song, with its descending melody leading us down into the supposed valley of lonesomeness.

Can someone please pass this song along to Annie Clark of St. Vincent? She would sound amazing covering it, and ought to record it. Lyrically and musically, it’s really not too far off from a lot of music she’s written herself!

Buy it from Amazon.