Grapes On the Vine Words & Music by Steve Gillette & Charles John Quarto

"Grapes On the Vine" is a poem by Charles John Quarto that I set to music when we first began to collaborate in the early eighties. We wrote several dozen songs and Charles brought me into the studios at Jack's Tracks in Nashville which gave me the chance to work with Jim Rooney, Allen Reynolds and Mark Miller, true giants of the recent decades in terms of their work and their presence in the industry.

"Grapes" has been recorded by a number of people including Waylon Jennings and Tony Rice with activity on the charts here and in England. Ronny Cox and Bill & Bonnie Hearne have also recorded it, not to mention my own version. It's now become kind of a staple with bluegrass bands as well.

I was captivated by the ways Charles brought the central figure of the song to life. The man is a sojourner, someone who leaves behind the comforts of comfort, and sets out to see the wide world - the sweet promise of grapes still on the vine, if not also those already turned into wine. He seems to have a worldly wisdom; a street wisdom, but also an overview, he 'sees beyond' as I've heard Charles say.

The view of the highway and the downtown mission seem very vivid, and 'to close all his eyes' invites that investigation of consciousness - the dispossessed loner, who can speak to us in a way that reassures us, each on our own transitory journey. Charles would say that some trucker on a long haul across Nevada, listening at 4:00 AM, might be encouraged by our efforts. Three chords and the truth, well, four.

That 'three chords and the truth' aphorism is always attributed to Harlan Howard, the great Nashville songwriter. He wrote "I Fall to Pieces" with Hank Cochran, and "Busted," a hit record for both Ray Charles and Johnny Cash. Charles and I were having lunch at a crowded Nashville watering hole celebrating Waylon Jennings' recording of "Grapes On the Vine" when Harlan sat down at our table as there was no other chair. He was very engaging and we had a terrific meal.

When I first met Charles I was curious as to how a performing poet, but really any artist who seemed to be so independent of the establishment, could survive. I learned a lot in the ensuing months. I paid Charles $45 for a first formal songwriting lesson, which gave way to my paying for lunch and providing transportation on visits to some amazing people in Los Angeles in those days.

Typically, we would try to have a meal at a more or less healthy place. "The Source" on Sunset Boulevard was especially a treat, and the terrace had a good view. There we met Muhammad Ali and shook his hand as we were all getting ready to leave (we waited). And it's there that Woody Allen later broke up with Diane Keaton, and where Woody tore up his driver's license in the movie "Annie Hall."

We both had been helped greatly by Graham Nash and Mac Holbert and others of Graham's and David Crosby's professional circle. Graham had produced albums for both of us and Charles's came out on the Atlantic label. Charles also had a group of talented writers around him in those days in LA, so there were many opportunities to listen and share songs with people on various levels of the ladder.

Charles has had a long association with the Kerrville Folk Festival, and he encouraged the festival's producer Rod Kennedy to invite me to perform and teach songwriting there. I've been back every year since 1984. Rod designated Charles the 'Poet-Lariat,' not something Charles would have chosen for himself, but definitely meant as respect.

When Charles moved to Nashville, old friends brought him into the studios of Sixteenth Avenue and there he signed a publishing contract with Foreshadow Songs, which created opportunities for the songs we had written together. We have continued to write and many good things have come from our collaboration.

A new double-CD of Charles' songs is almost ready for sale. I was asked to write down some thoughts that might be used to help publicize it. Here's part of what I wrote:

"Multi-platinum songwriter and sage, Charles John has taught so many of us so much about songwriting. Some of us paid him for lessons, some of us paid dues with him on the road and on the street.

"Herd the beast toward circus ground." I don't know where he got that, but I needed to hear it when Charles said it. Lurching through the stages of a song from the inkling to the ink, I have reflected on that advice.

There's a gravitas, an insight, a spark, a glimpse of logos that is so hard to get at, and harder to exploit and convey, but when you are with Charles, it's in the air. "Volume is not intensity" was one that turned me around. There's a gentle intensity at work in the songs that makes them wealth."

Steve Gillette: an Informal Performance at a Festival

Cover Versions of "Grapes On the Vine

Waylon Jennings's version of "Grapes On the Vine can be heard here:

Waylon Jennings

Tony Rice and the Rice Brothers version is here:

Tony Rice and the Rice Brothers

I recently recorded a new version of the song, available for purchase here.

Here are the lyrics:

There are songs that birds don't sing to people
Secrets that keep right through to the end.
There are heroes that hide until forever
And I'm singin' this song for one of them.

He's the man that you passed on the road there,
The one with his life on the loose.
Goin' either somewhere or nowhere,
Goin' without me without you.

For he is this world's constant orphan
Travelin' out his long time,
Livin' on apples from orchards
And dyin' from grapes on the vine.

You can find him in big city winters
Down where the mission bell cries,
And the sorrow echoes through summers
As he tries to close all his eyes.

And dream of his railroad existence
As if it were some kind of dream.
As if the extent of the distance
Were what his heart would call his own.

You can find him in Pittsburgh at Christmas,
You can find him in Buffalo in June.
And he knows all the back roads between them
Like a gypsy knows the moon.

And it's route 22 all over again
Put your thumb out and try to look like somebody's friend.
Look strong at the man and mild at the girl
And puzzled at the rest of the world.

For he is this world's constant orphan
Travelin' out his long time.
Livin' on apples from orchards
And dyin' from grapes on the vine.