Singer-songwriter Corin Raymond is touring with his new album Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams.
'I'm hard on my body, I'm hard on my bones," Corin Raymond drones on his new album Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams, "I'm hard on every tool I own." The Toronto raconteur and folk-troubadour extraordinaire sings and writes the truth, something that doesn't always come easy to him. We spoke to Mr. Raymond about Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and the hardness of songwriting.
Your new album opens with Hard on Things, a Johnny Cash-like ballad that is the most poignant song I've ever heard from you. Is this a departure in mood for you?
I wouldn't say it was something different. I specialize in ballads that are either sad or bleak.
Your live performances are upbeat though. But maybe this song hit me so strongly because I recognized myself in it, that I'm hard on things, myself mostly.
I don't think it ever brings anybody down to feel recognized. But to me it's an exciting song. It makes me feel wildly happy. Maybe I'm the wrong person to ask about that song. Sure, there's sadness to it, but it's always beautiful when you can recognize these different things, these hard truths. And if you can do it with a nice back-beat and some fun rhymes, it's always a good time.
Is Hard on Things autobiographical?
Well, this is the beautiful thing about songs. You write them so you don't have to live them. We all carry things from our past. Maybe it's someone else in our lives or maybe it's a self-destructive impulse or pattern we're trying to figure out. Is it autobiographical? Yeah. But it's a song. I'm more interested in writing something true. If it's something that brings the truth alive, it makes it easier for me to live that truth.
How does it feel to sing that truth to an audience?
I'll tell you something, it's more fun to sing about it, get it out in the air, hang a melody in the air, use it to entertain people, bring them together and give them a little shiver. It's way more fun to do that than it is to walk down the street talking to yourself about it and churning yourself into some sort of frenzy about the dark places you go to. Maybe I'm still hard on things, but maybe, with that song, I'm able to befriend myself through that song, in a way that I didn't before.
Most of the songs on the album were written over a course of years. Why is that?
There's a lot of mythology about songwriting. People love to believe songwriting is easy, that it's some kind of magic. But if you believe that it's magic, there's no hope for you. Because the truth is, it's hard work.
Leonard Cohen has spoken about this.
I relate to him on this subject. When I finish a song I need to live with every line in that song for the rest of my life. I need to stand up and look you in the eye and sing it to you and mean it. Sometimes it takes time to get that.
Seems like one of the things you're hard on are your songs.
I don't find songwriting easy. I'm not a genius. People talk about Bob Dylan writing songs in a back of cab in 10 minutes. Well, I wasn't there in that cab, so I can't comment on that. I certainly have not found it to be like that. I believe a song is worth holding out for. Good songs are worth being patient for.
Corin Raymond launches Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams, March 31, 8 p.m. $20 to $25. Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. W.,corinraymond.com or 416-588-0307.