How Harry Dean Stanton brought a classic James Taylor song to life
Harry Dean Stanton had an impressively long and varied career, becoming a true American icon. Finding his start in the 1950s, Stanton worked until he died in 2017, aged 91. Through the decades, he appeared in classic westerns, cult sci-fi dramas and experimental thrillers, never confining himself to one genre.
After appearing in movies like Cool Hand Luke and Dillinger, Stanton found greater recognition after he starred in Alien. However, his first leading role finally arrived in 1984 with Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas. Stanton’s incredible performance as the troubled Travis earned him widespread acclaim, cementing him as a true star.
Yet, Stanton often expressed his love for music as well as acting, once claiming that he “could have made it as a singer, but I went with acting, surrendered to it, in a way,” he explained to The Guardian, “I’ve worked with some of the best of them. Not just directors like Sam Peckinpah and David Lynch, but writers like Sam Shepard and singers like Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.”
Stanton was a big fan of folk music, and throughout his career, he performed both in front of the camera and on stage with his musical friends. He has joined the likes of Dylan, Art Garfunkel and Kris Kristofferson on stage, as well as releasing an album of covers, Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, which accompanied the documentary of the same name.
The actor once said: “Singing and acting are actually very similar things. Anyone can sing and anyone can be a film actor. All you have to do is learn. I learned to sing when I was a child. I had a babysitter named Thelma. She was 18, I was six, and I was in love with her. I used to sing her an old Jimmie Rodgers song, T for Thelma…I was singing the blues when I was six. Kind of sad, eh?”
During an interview with Uncut, Stanton revealed that he helped to bring a song by folk icon James Taylor to life. Discussing his favourite artists, he said: “I love Dylan’s work, and Kristofferson. I’ve sung with both of them, in fact. Tom Waits, we’re good friends. He’s gnarly. He’s a fine poet. James Taylor’s song, ‘Hey Mister, That’s Me Up On The Jukebox’? He borrowed my guitar to compose that song.”
The song appears on Taylor’s third album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon. Released in 1971, the album reached number two on the Billboard charts, with contributions from Joni Mitchell and Carole King. Taylor even won the award for ‘Best Male Pop Vocal Performance’ at the Grammys, solidifying him as one of the period’s most acclaimed folk artists.
Stanton knew Taylor through the filming of Two-Lane Blacktop, also released in 1971, which featured the singer-songwriter in the lead role as The Driver. Directed by Monte Hellman, the road movie featured Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys and Stanton in a small role as an Oklahoma Hitchhiker.
