“If I could only fly
I’d bid this place goodbye, to come and be with you
But I can hardly stand, and I got no where to run
Another sinking sun, and one more lonely night”

BLAZE FOLEY had been waiting for his big break for years. His gate to fame and glory. And then finally it just happened. After years of playing in hole in the wall bars, a producer approached him. He offered him all the gold in the world. A top-notch recording studio. A sea of time to record. A marketing plan. Tours throughout the US. And Blaze Foley recorded a record. After endless sessions it was finally a wrap: he had his masterpiece on tape. But Blaze had already been punched in the face once too many by life, and this time he was not going to let anything spoil his dream. So he insisted on taking the master tapes home, to protect them, take care of them, cherish them. The producer asked him not to, that there was no safer place than the studio. But Blaze insisted and took the tape with him. On the way home he decided to make a small stop at a bar to have a drink and celebrate the end of the recording. One drink led to another, and when he left the bar hours later Blaze could not remember where he had parked his car. He searched and searched, but nothing. The car and the tape never appeared again.

You will never find a more beautiful loser than Blaze Foley. In this video he plays his masterpiece “If I could only fly” at a wedding, surrounded by drunks. It makes us cry every time we see it. Because there is nothing more beautiful than a gentle defeat.