Song of the Day 11/29: Ted Hawkins, “Sorry You’re Sick”

I have to thank the Spotify algorithm for introducing me to Ted Hawkins, whose tragic life story is even more incredible and diverse than his repertoire was.

Hawkins was born in Biloxi, Miss., in 1936, to a prostitute; he never knew who his father was. He was in reform school by age 12, where he became interested in music after hearing a concert by Professor Longhair, and was incarcerated at the notorious Parchman Farm at age 15. For years he traveled the country, between spells in prison, before winding up in Los Angeles, where he made his living busking on Venice Beach. He was “discovered” several times — he cut a single in 1966 and recorded an album’s worth of songs in 1971, “Sorry You’re Sick” among them, but they sat in a vault for more than a decade because he was imprisoned in the interim.

That session was released by as “Watch Your Step” by Rounder in 1982, and was followed by “Happy Hour” in 1986, but it wasn’t until a British DJ brought him to London that year that Hawkins finally gained a larger audience. But by 1990 he was busking in Venice Beach again.

He finally got a proper recording contract in 1994, when “The Next Hundred Years,” released by Geffen, earned a five-star review in Rolling Stone. Finally standing at the brink of success at age 58, Hawkins died of a stroke on New Year’s Day 1995.

His music is as raw as Mississippi blues, but Hawkins didn’t play the blues — his fret hand was injured, so he couldn’t bend notes, and he only played in open C tuning. His covers, like his originals, carry an uncommon emotional impact. Here’s his interpretation of Jesse Winchester’s song about Hawkins’ hometown.

Perhaps his most affecting song captures what his childhood must have been like.