Emmylou Harris has the kind of voice that can make any song better, but she struggled with the decision of whether or not to record this classic folk song that is now an invariable part of her musical legacy. Harris had already established herself as a talented cover artist with hits like Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty.”
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But “Pancho and Lefty” had an omniscient narrator, while the song Harris wasn’t sure whether she should record was first-person. In the end, a simple shift in perspective helped her reconcile with her hangups.
Emmylou Harris Struggled With Pronouns
Per usual folk and country tradition, Emmylou Harris has incorporated plenty of cover songs in her live performances throughout her career. Her light, expressive soprano works nicely on most songs, similar to other folk icons like Joan Baez, who manage to make virtually every cover they sing sound like their own. However, Harris tried to be careful about changing pronouns unnecessarily, which is why she hesitated to record her version of “The Boxer.”
Speaking of the Simon & Garfunkel classic in 1980, Harris said, “I’ve been doing that song since I first heard it over ten years ago. I felt very strongly about it, having lived in New York City. But there was something about changing the gender that I couldn’t bring myself to do. The song only worked from a man’s point of view, so I resisted recording it. Then, it came to me to deal with it like an old traditional, singing a story song in the Carter Family tradition. By doing that, it doesn’t matter if I’m singing I am just a poor boy, especially if it’s done in three-part harmony with autoharp.”
Harris continued, “It’s a way to take a modern classic and adapt it to an old form.” And indeed she did. Harris released her version of “The Boxer” on her 1980 album, Roses in the Snow, which also included traditional songs like “Wayfaring Stranger” and “Green Pastures.”
The Trouble With Some Classic Folk Songs
Emmylou Harris’ version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” wasn’t the only part of her 1980 album, Roses in the Snow, that made her question what she was doing. Pronouns certainly played a role in it.
“Sometimes, I have a lot of problems about recording songs written by men. I don’t think you can just go in and change the words around to any song. There are certain subtleties—masculine things and feminine things. I mean, I love Delbert McClinton’s songs, but most of them have a definite machoness and male sense of humor. There’s no way I could sing them if I changed the lyrics around. They’d just come across as ludicrous.”
But the genre of the album itself gave Harris pause, too. Although she was a bona fide country icon by the time she was recording Roses in the Snow, she wasn’t necessarily as “accepted” in the bluegrass camp—at least, not from her perspective. “It was a risky thing to do,” she said of recording a bluegrass record. “Not just from the standpoint of my own constituency, but from the standpoint of real bluegrass people who might resent me doing it.”
To overcome this issue, Harris said, “I basically tried to get a few good bluegrass pickers together who would act as a catalyst for the music. I really do feel that it’s coming from the right place. It doesn’t pull any punches.”
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
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