Spend It All
Jim Phillips claims this was the first tune he ever wrote on his grandfather’s fiddle.
There was only one problem.
This was around 2007 and he didn’t actually know how to play the fiddle yet.
The melody reminded him of Jay Ungar, so Jim called it Ode to Ungar, put it away, and went on with his life.
Years later, somebody asked Nicky Butler to come up with a tune honoring Les Blank’s Spend It All — that wonderful 1971 film about Cajun South Louisiana.
Nicky got hold of Jim’s old fiddle tune that he had recorded on Garage Band for a couple jamming buddies, Don Carpenter and Phil Kaelin. Never in their wildest dreams did they see it evolve into what Nicky heard in his head (and heart)…
Nicky listened… Then he listened again.
And somewhere between Les Blank, Jim’s grandfather’s fiddle, and a simple melody written and recorded by a man who didn’t yet know how to play the instrument he was writing it on, Nicky heard three words:
Spend it all.
Now Nicky wasn’t think’n necessarily about money. Spend it all…
Spend the music. Spend the supper. Spend the stories. Spend the afternoon. Spend your affection.
Spend whatever you’ve got that gets better by giving it away.
Which led Nicky to a peculiar bit of South Louisiana arithmetic:
Spend it all — and somehow you get something back.
So Nicky did what Nicky does.
He messed with it.
And then, according to Nicky, somebody with influence in Nashville heard about the damned thing.
Exactly who called whom remains unclear — or unspoken.
There are conflicting reports involving a borrowed telephone, a man named Earl who may or may not exist, several cups of bad coffee, and somebody ending up saying, “Hell, bring me the damned song.”
Next thing anybody knew, Spend It All was being recorded in Nashville style.
Nicky has been remarkably vague about the whole business — the musicians involved, where it was actually recorded, etc.
He says this is because good musicians deserve their privacy. Hummm…right…
WBRD suspects there may be other reasons.
What we do know is that a simple old fiddle tune went into what we believe is a Nashville studio as Ode to Ungar and came back carrying guitars, voices, harmonies, and a considerably higher opinion of itself.
Nicky listened to the finished recording once.
Then twice.
Then said without blushing:
“Well, hell. Apparently I write songs now.”
WBRD has been unable to independently verify this claim.
But we have the damned recording.
And this is what came back.