The last song on her final album, The Donor, is one of those great songs, that, once heard, is impossible to dislodge from your mind and successive listenings re-affirm its classic status. Written in a depressed frame of mind, she wanted to write a song that would, in some way, "induce God to give us all a break", but decided that, on reflection, she "shouldn't get any more breaks because [she] already squandered them in weird places". This turned out to be sadly prescient for the rest of her life. The following year saw her her third album shelved by her record company (it remained unreleased until 2005), and then she was involved in a car accident which left her with daily excruciating back pain for the rest of her life. She became addicted to the painkillers that helped her deal with this pain and then returned to heroin (to which she had been addicted in the late Sixties), leaving the musical world far behind, before finally dying of an overdose in 1979. It's a heartbreaking story, especially when you consider the astonishing quality of the two albums she left us with - perfectly formed songs, full of achingly personal sincerity and beautifully sung from the heart. If you haven't yet made their acquaintance, I strongly suggest you do so.
As good as the studio version of The Donor is, there is a live version available that is, in my opinion, even more heartbreakingly powerful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE4c3ZlCWmQ
Now songs from so deep/While I'm sleeping/Seep in/Sweeping over me
Still the echo's aching
"Leave us not forsaken"
Kyrie eleison
So sad and so true/That even shadows come/And hum the requiem
Kyrie eleison
