"The Ending," by Tedeschi Trucks Band

Chip and I so enjoyed the Tedeschi Trucks band. So much of their music is based in American soul and blues music, which, of course, came out of spirituals and work songs, developed by African slaves and freedmen (A brief history can be found here). American culture has loss, misery and hardship deeply rooted in our land, and Tedeschi Trucks Band manifests these roots in much of their music. Their newest album, Signs, expresses the feelings of loss so well. The album was released February 15, 2019, and Chip and I saw them on one of the four nights that they played songs from the debut album at The Warner Theater in DC, in February 2019. The picture in this post was taken when we saw Tedeschi Trucks Band at Wolf Trap National Park for Performing Arts (a 22-minute walk from our home) in July 2018 with good friends Robyn and Scott Honiberg.

According to the article “Tedeschi Trucks Band Transform Grief Into Impassioned Musical ‘Signs’,” the group went through several tragedies: the death of mentors like Leon Russell and Col. Bruce Hampton, as well as Trucks' uncle Butch, who died in January 2017, during the writing and recording of Signs. In the article, Derek Trucks, lead guitarist for the band, was quoted, saying:

"How their passing affected me was that there was the wanting to do it right and wanting to carry on whatever parts I learned from them that I could carry on. The music they made was of a special time and place. I'm never going to recapture that stuff, but I've certainly been able to take the lessons I learned from them.”

The final song on the album is the heart-wrenching “The Ending” (You can listen to it here). The lyrics (shown below), Susan Tedeschi’s voice and Derek Trucks’ amazing slide guitar work express the bittersweetness of losing a man who played guitar, who loved being on stage and who had a dancing face and dancing eyes.

Tedeschi and Trucks know the intense feeling of loss that comes with losing a beautiful, musical soul, and so do I.

The Ending

His guitar is laughing and filling the room

Everybody's smiling while he's singing his blues

You might not understand just what it is he's saying

But it's the truth

His face is dancing, his eyes bugging out

Looking in your soul and pulling it right out

You might not understand just what it is you're hearing

But it's a joyful sound

Door opened up and he walked right through

Some folks thought he was just pretending

Telling those stories, just like they're true

He fell out on stage

With a smile on his face

Never giving away

The ending

Just blowing his smoke and playing along

He turned into the light of his favorite song

Looked down at his watch and said "it's time to go"

And he was gone

Door opened up and he walked right through

Some folks thought he was just pretending

Telling those stories, just like they're true

He fell out on stage

With a smile on his face

Never giving away

The ending

His guitar is laughing and filling the room

Everybody's smiling while he's singing his blues

It's hard to understand but I think he understood

Yes he knew

Yes he knew oh he knew

The ending

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Derek Trucks / Susan Tedeschi / Oliver Wood