Because it’s homely and comfortable. Because it’s soft and comforting. Because the truth that leaves their lips pierces their own and their listeners hearts, so the clothing must remain comfortable. The songs hurt when they are born and hurt throughout their lives. Each time they are re-sung there is blood dripping on the inside. The words enslave their creator and the notes bind the hands of the master who conjures them. Just as the poor troubadour would learn to make peace with the pain of the song, a sudden wave of hurtful memories arrive on a freshly tuned guitar string. And then the chequered shirt remains the only comfort, a piece of home far away from home. For the job must be done, the songs must be written and sung. They must find the ears of those who will heal from them, even if they slowly kill the one who made them, who sings them. Night after night, the worn out soul, the one who rips old wounds open, deserves at least a comfortable shirt on his back. On her back.
Then there is the void. The companion who travels with the lonesome artist. Only in darkness, only in solitude will the murmurs be heard and the soul filled, the hands in motion, the instrument in full bloom, the words in ecstasy, dancing around the notes. Only then will the songs be born. And with the painful birth will the void disappear. Then they get ready, the artist and the words, the notes and the memories, the feelings and longing, to show others of their existence. To show that never are they alone. Only the creation desires solitude, then the beast becomes hungry for fame, light, audience and applause. The beast mars the soul of the artist from the inside, but wants to be let go, to swim in the joy of attention. And with that duality does a singer songwriter choose a chequered shirt for his back. For her back.
These boys and girls, with hearts full of love and songs full of forgiveness embark on journeys each performing night. Very few I take with them, but mostly it’s their songs, their instruments and their shirts who know exactly how one night is different from the other. They are the ones who are there when the new adventures take place. They are there to accompany and witness, to then demand a new addition to the gang. They are there to love and to hurt. And each coming night, with these shirts, these boys and girls make the burden of the world a little lighter. That’s why a singer songwriter always wears a chequered shirt, it reminds them of the responsibility and the weight to the word home.
