Au Revoir, Kate (2010)
Originally published as a Facebook Note February 7, 2010. Kate McGarrigle died a few weeks ago, of liver cancer. The Canadian singer, who formed a duo with her sister Anna, would have been 64 this weekend. She has long been one of my favorite musical performers, a singer-songwriter with a throaty alto and an enviable way with words. Kimberli Maloy calls me a wordsmith, a talent for which I have to thank hours of listening to their albums. In my youth I spent an inordinate time with rather insubstantial pop music, and the main alternatives among my friends were loud rock and the musical travesty known as disco. Somehow, through all that noise, Kate and Anna McGarrigle kept finding me. I ordered one of those $2 samplers Warner Brothers used to offer, and on it was Kate and Anna's "Walking Song" (written by Kate). It was spare, relying mainly on the vocal and the lyric built around two people going on a walk. And the lyrics were odd, in a way that appealed greatly to my st...