A few months ago on a flight home from the UK, I saw that Once was on the in-flight movie list and I instantly went into nostalgia mode. I hadn’t seen John Carney’s musical drama since I can only imagine 2007, once it made its way to the American theaters after a release in Ireland. It’s a move you remember, partly because you can’t believe the audacity of writing a musical set for film, but just how romantic the story was. And I don’t mean the relationship between Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, but mostly how romantic and special it was in the act of creating art by yourself and the process of sharing it with others. The scene, and yes, it is the scene that won the Academy Award, and literally the scene of early 21st century indie filmmaking, is the “Falling Slowly” song being worked out and performed in the back of a music store in Dublin. It is romantic, yes, but its more about those incredible moments of how art comes to life, how we share with others, the insecurity and anxiousness and then the payoff and collaboration. I don’t know how many times I have YouTube’d that scene over the years, not just for the song, but for the lovely and clumsy way Hansard explains his melody and chord changes. It’s all in his head, but the way he shares it is something I can’t ever imagine Carney wrote in the script for his friend. That felt natural.
I think that is what has hit me so hard about waking up to the news this morning that Hansard died in motorcycle crash in Dublin today. Hansard was a romantic of song, of songwriting, of collaboration, of the Irish spirit of music and poetry and togetherness. He was an authentic artist of an era of inauthenticity. The Once soundtrack mixed with his work in The Frames and as a solo artist were honest and heartfelt, but crafted with a voice that was singular and reflective. But it was music that was of a person who cared about sharing, who wanted to play with others, who was going to give his heart when he did it. “If you’re feeling it, then go for it all the way. If you’re not feeling it, then give it what you can,” he said. How true, and how brilliant advice for a generation that feels so hopeless.
But I go back to the “Falling Slowly” scene, because that might be the height of his legacy, and he won an Academy Award for it. A busker on the streets of Dublin, who made a name for himself in music, was tasked by this friend to write the tunes for his new film and then cast as the lead, wrote a song that became iconic in a scene that went beyond scripted and became just a reminder of the romance of making art. I’m not sure why this one hurts so much, but the thought of reading in the news today that Glen left a pub where he goes on Tuesday night’s to play music with others, to share, makes this all the more heartbreaking. That he leaves behind his partner and young child.
That ability to share, to play with others, is why Cat Power, Bruce Springsteen, Bono and U2, Eddie Vedder and so many are making tributes to Glen today. They shared with him. They played with him. He shared with them. He played with them.
“Sometimes it’s hard to know what exactly is required of you, so you have to just go with what you’re feeling. And that’s something I’m kind of learning more and more." Be well, Glen.
Text by Evan Pricco
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