The ballad of the reluctant troubadour. Copeland became a published songwriter around 1967 along with Orange County high school pals Jackson Browne and Steve Noonan, hitting paydirt with the latter when the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band covered their Buy For Me The Rain. Eventually, Browne, who says watching Copeland write songs inspired him to start writing his own, secured his mentor a record deal with Geffen, producing this 1982 debut in the bargain. But the left-leaning Copeland's disinclination to capitalize on his good fortune, refusing to appear in public to promote himself, led him to sign on as a paralegal at a good-hearted friend's law firm, eventually becoming a lawyer himself. He released his follow-up album, the bleak and wondrous Diana & James, in 2008, a mere quarter century after the first, and is apparently hard at work on a third. Good things come to those who wait. And wait.
greg copeland
revenge will come
geffen records ghs 2010 (1982)
01 Used 3.04
02 Starting Place 3.14
03 Full Cleveland 2.27
04 Eagleston 3.17
05 That'll Never Be The Same 4.58
06 Richard Hill 4.59
07 At The Warfield 3.33
08 Wrong Highway 2.49
09 El Salvador 3.38
10 Revenge Will Come 4.38
Distance and boredom, dragging you down
Nowhere to go but an Air Force town
Nowhere to heal these feelings in you
Nowhere to hide when the medicine came through
Fire on the water, fear in the land
Gather ye children, the time is at hand
Any ten dollar bill and you can fly like the dove
From Eagleston, Texas, to somewhere you love
In his own words.
vinyl @320
