“What Light” (Jeff Tweedy)
Jeff Tweedy: vocals, acoustic twelve-string
John Stirratt: background vocals, bass
Glenn Kotche: drums, percussion
Mikael Jorgensen: Hammond A100 organ
Nels Cline: electric guitar, lap steel
Pat Sansone: background vocals, piano
Jim O’Rourke: acoustic guitar
This uplifting folk song has a 70s-style you can do anything you want to do vibe, with lyrics that recall Cat Steven’s “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out,” with Tweedy encouraging his listeners to ‘sing what you feel / Don’t let anyone say it’s wrong.”
Labeled a “hippie-gospel hymn” by Rob Sheffield in his review for Rolling Stone, “What Light” was made available as a free download on wilcoworld.net in March 2007, two months before the album’s release, although many fans had first heard the song when it was premiered at Wilco and Tweedy solo shows in the summer of 2006.
After its release on Sky Blue Sky, a version of “What Light” from Wilco’s appearance on the NPR program World Café on June 15, 2007, was released on the 2008 compilation Live at the World Cafe: Volume 26 (Marathon). In 2014, this rendition was re-released on the box set Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014.
As for the reviews, Billboard’s Jonathan Cohen said that “the strummy first single, ‘What Light,’ sounds airlifted from Mermaid Avenue,” Paste Magazine’s Geoffrey Himes suggested that “The strum-along rhythm and nasal bray of ‘What Light’ resembles an early Dylan folk song,” and tinymixtapes.com’s Chad Wicked, making a similar comparison, opined that “‘What Light’ speaks and sounds like a modest anthem of goodness and wholesomeness, much like Dylan’s ‘Forever Young.’”
Maybe the best summing up of “What Light” came from Joan Anderman in her review of Sky Blue Sky for the Boston Globe: “Tweedy isn’t finished with this life - ‘There’s a light, what light, inside of you,’ he sings over and over again in ‘What Light,’ a sweet, harmony-drenched celebration. The message is hardly revolutionary but endlessly relevant. It requires courage and candor - and if you’re a rock band, no small amount of creativity - to be yourself.”
With only thirty-something subsequent live airings, however, “What Light” is one of the least-performed songs on Sky Blue Sky. Since being played around two dozen times in 2006-07, it has only been played once or twice a tour. But as a relentlessly upbeat folk anthem, it’ll surely continue to make once-in-a-blue-moon appearances. *
* The most recent performance of “What Light” was on Episode 21 of The Tweedy Show, the Tweedy family’s live Instagram show which aired on April 10th of this year. You can watch it here.
Jeff Tweedy: vocals, acoustic twelve-string
John Stirratt: background vocals, bass
Glenn Kotche: drums, percussion
Mikael Jorgensen: Hammond A100 organ
Nels Cline: electric guitar, lap steel
Pat Sansone: background vocals, piano
Jim O’Rourke: acoustic guitar
This uplifting folk song has a 70s-style you can do anything you want to do vibe, with lyrics that recall Cat Steven’s “If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out,” with Tweedy encouraging his listeners to ‘sing what you feel / Don’t let anyone say it’s wrong.”
Labeled a “hippie-gospel hymn” by Rob Sheffield in his review for Rolling Stone, “What Light” was made available as a free download on wilcoworld.net in March 2007, two months before the album’s release, although many fans had first heard the song when it was premiered at Wilco and Tweedy solo shows in the summer of 2006.
After its release on Sky Blue Sky, a version of “What Light” from Wilco’s appearance on the NPR program World Café on June 15, 2007, was released on the 2008 compilation Live at the World Cafe: Volume 26 (Marathon). In 2014, this rendition was re-released on the box set Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014.
As for the reviews, Billboard’s Jonathan Cohen said that “the strummy first single, ‘What Light,’ sounds airlifted from Mermaid Avenue,” Paste Magazine’s Geoffrey Himes suggested that “The strum-along rhythm and nasal bray of ‘What Light’ resembles an early Dylan folk song,” and tinymixtapes.com’s Chad Wicked, making a similar comparison, opined that “‘What Light’ speaks and sounds like a modest anthem of goodness and wholesomeness, much like Dylan’s ‘Forever Young.’”
Maybe the best summing up of “What Light” came from Joan Anderman in her review of Sky Blue Sky for the Boston Globe: “Tweedy isn’t finished with this life - ‘There’s a light, what light, inside of you,’ he sings over and over again in ‘What Light,’ a sweet, harmony-drenched celebration. The message is hardly revolutionary but endlessly relevant. It requires courage and candor - and if you’re a rock band, no small amount of creativity - to be yourself.”
With only thirty-something subsequent live airings, however, “What Light” is one of the least-performed songs on Sky Blue Sky. Since being played around two dozen times in 2006-07, it has only been played once or twice a tour. But as a relentlessly upbeat folk anthem, it’ll surely continue to make once-in-a-blue-moon appearances. *
* The most recent performance of “What Light” was on Episode 21 of The Tweedy Show, the Tweedy family’s live Instagram show which aired on April 10th of this year. You can watch it here.
This is an edited excerpt from Wilcopedia by Daniel Cook Johnson, published by Jawbone Press (www.jawbonepress.com). Order your copy here.
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