| Tim Hardin |
Cover of "The Best of Tim Hardin", 1969
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Timothy James Hardin |
| Born |
December 23, 1941(1941-12-23)
Eugene, Oregon, United States |
| Died |
December 29, 1980 (aged 39)
Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres |
Folk |
| Occupations |
Singer, songwriter |
| Instruments |
Vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active |
1965–1980 |
| Labels |
Verve, Columbia |
Timothy James Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980[1] ) was an American folk musician and composer. He is best remembered for writing the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by Bobby Darin and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe"[2], covered by Rod Stewart, as well as his own recording career.
Career
Hardin dropped out of high school at age 18 to join the Marine Corps. He spent part of 1959 in Vietnam as a military advisor. He told the story that his sergeant was killed on patrol that year, but because the US didn't admit to any military dead until 1961, his sergeant was listed as having been killed that year.
Hardin is said to have discovered heroin in Vietnam.
After his discharge he moved to New York City in 1961, where he briefly attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was dismissed because of truancy and began to focus on his musical career by performing around Greenwich Village, mostly in a blues style.[3]
After moving to Boston in 1963 he was discovered by the record producer Erik Jacobsen (later the producer for The Lovin' Spoonful), who arranged a meeting with Columbia Records.[4] In 1964 he moved back to Greenwich Village to record for his contract with Columbia. The resulting recordings were considered a failure by Columbia, which chose not to release them and terminated Hardin's recording contract.
After moving to Los Angeles, California in 1965, he met actress Susan Morss (known professionally as Susan Yardley)[5][6], and moved back to New York with her. He signed to the Verve Forecast label, and produced his first authorized album, Tim Hardin 1 in 1966. This album saw a transformation from his early traditional blues style to the folk style that defined his recording career. This LP contained "Reason To Believe" and the ballad "Misty Roses" which did receive Top 40 radio play.
Tim Hardin 2 was released in 1967 and contained one of his most famous songs, "If I Were a Carpenter".
An album entitled This is Tim Hardin, featuring covers of "House of the Rising Sun", Fred Neil's "Blues on the Ceilin'" and Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man", among others, appeared in 1967, on the Atco label. The liner notes indicate the songs were recorded in 1963–1964, well prior to the release of Tim Hardin 1 by Verve Records. Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert, released in 1968, was a collection of live recordings along with re-makes of previous songs; it was followed by Tim Hardin 4, another collection of blues-influenced tracks believed to date from the same period as This is Tim Hardin.
In 1969, Hardin again signed with Columbia and had one of his few commercial successes, as a non-LP single of Bobby Darin's "Simple Song of Freedom" reached the US Top 50. Hardin did not tour in support of this single and a heroin addiction and stage fright made his live performances erratic. Also in 1969 he appeared at the Woodstock Festival where he sang his famous "If I Were a Carpenter" song. He recorded three albums for Columbia—Suite for Susan Moore and Damion: We Are One, One, All in One; Bird on a Wire; and Painted Head—none of which sold well. His output as a songwriter decreased and eventually ceased during this period, a circumstance blamed on his ongoing drug problems.
In 1973, Hardin appeared on stage with Harry Chapin as part of Chapin's concert in Potsdam, New York. They jammed on a blues riff that survives in a bootleg recording. Some of the topics covered in the seven minute jam include drug use, travel and death. In Chapin's introduction, he makes reference to Hardin's participation as a session musician on his first two albums.
Later career and death
During the following years Hardin moved between England and the U.S. His heroin addiction had taken control of his life by the time his last album, Nine, was released on GM Records in the UK in 1973 (the album did not see a US release until it appeared on Antilles Records in 1976).
He sold his writers' rights in the late 1970s.
Tim Hardin died of a heroin and morphine overdose in 1980, and is buried in the Twin Oaks Cemetery in Turner, Oregon.
Discography
Covers of Hardin songs
- "Black Sheep Boy" - Okkervil River on their concept album Black Sheep Boy, Scott Walker on his album Scott 2, Paul Weller on Volume Nine, the ninth issue of Volume magazine.
- "Don't Make Promises" - Helen Reddy on her album I Don't Know How to Love Him, Three Dog Night on their eponymous first album, Bobby Darin, The Kingston Trio, Gary Puckett, Rick Nelson Scottish singer Tam White, a 1969 single on Deram Records, Chris Smither on Drive You Home Again.
- "Eulogy to Lenny Bruce" - Nico, on her debut solo album, Chelsea Girl, Damon and Naomi on their album Damon and Naomi with Ghost.
- "How Can We Hang On To A Dream?" - Echo & the Bunnymen, on their Avalanche EP; The Nice, on their self-titled third album, Lars Cleveman, on his self-titled debut album, The Lightning Seeds, on their Sense EP; sometimes just listed as "Hang On To A Dream".
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- In the Netherlands former Motions singer Rudy Bennett had a Top 10 hit with "How Can We Hang On to a Dream?" in early 1967 and used in the film Zoeken naar Eileen
- "If I Were A Carpenter" - Wes Carr, Stan Webb's Chicken Shack, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Four Tops, Leon Russell, Rod Stewart, Doc Watson, Joan Baez (as "If You Were a Carpenter"), The Nice, Small Faces, Robert Plant, Leonard Nimoy, John Holt, Bob Seger, and Ramblin' Jack Elliot.
- "It'll Never Happen Again" - The Dream Academy.
- "The Lady Came from Baltimore" - Joan Baez, Scott Walker on his album Scott.Jesse Malin (album-Mercury Retrograde) Lloyd Cole (album: The Whelan, folksinger 2), and Bob Dylan (performed live but never released on record)
- "Misty Roses" - Colin Blunstone, Ron Davies, Jess Roden, The Youngbloods.
- "Reason to Believe" - Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, The Youngbloods, Brainbox, Rod Stewart, Ron Sexsmith, Wilson Phillips, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, The Carpenters, Marianne Faithfull, Bobby Darin, Glen Campbell, The Kingston Trio, Weddings Parties Anything, Mason Williams, Ron Sexsmith and by the Israeli singer Arik Einstein.
- "Red Balloon" - Rick Nelson, Small Faces, Kula Shaker.
- "Shiloh Town" - Mark Lanegan on his fourth solo album I'll Take Care of You.
- "Never Too Far" - Wally Tax, member of The Outsiders on his solo album The Entertainer.
- "You Got a Reputation" [aka "Reputation"] - The Byrds (recorded during the Sweetheart of the Rodeo sessions and eventually released some 22 years later on The Byrds box set in 1990) and Gram Parsons (on Another Side of This Life: The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons).
References
External links
