John Gorka's Album I Know was a Highlight of 80s Music

I still remember the moment I bought folk singer John Gorka's debut album, I Know. I had searched several record outlets before visiting a Camelot Music superstore in a Cincinnati suburb. I went back to the cassette aisle, and the store had one copy. I gladly purchased it, and that tape has been worth every cent of the nine dollars I spent on it.

My favorite track from I Know is "I Saw a Stranger with Your Hair," which was the reason I bought the cassette in the first place. I had heard it on a folk compilation CD several months earlier, and I was so impressed with the way humor and despair were interwoven in the lyrics. I loved the last verse, featuring the lines, "By the way how is my heart? I haven't seen it since you left, I'm almost sure it followed you, Could you some time send it back?"

The other songs on I Know reinforce John Gorka's talent for conjuring lyrical gems. On a Sinatra-like tune he admits, "You're out of my mind, Guess that makes two of us." In the bluesy "B.B. King Was Wrong" Gorka corrects the legendary bluesman by professing that "The thrill it isn't gone," among several references to King's guitar Lucille.

The hymn-like "Branching Out" has Gorka wishing he were a tree. The entire song is an extended metaphor, ending when Gorka the tree says, "If I should fall in storm or slumber, Please don't turn me into lumber, I'd rather be a Louisville Slugger, swinging for the seats."

Gorka sprinkles other metaphors throughout I Know. "Like My Watch" has the songwriter comparing himself to a watch that's a little slow and will stop if he gets dropped. There are also "Winter Cows" compared to ice cream wagons and a "Blues Palace" housing those with broken hearts.

John Gorka went on to record many albums, each providing me with weeks and months of auditory pleasure. It is his debut album I Know, though, that remains my favorite. I was pleasantly surprised with its sharp lyrics, laid-back vocal delivery and acoustic guitar work that ever after I have come to expect from each new Gorka recording.