David Nagler – “Chicago” (video) (premiere)

Brooklyn’s David Nagler has gathered together an amazing group of musicians — Jeff Tweedy, Robbie Fulks, Sally Timms, Kelly Hogan, Jon Langford — to record a tribute to legendary poet Carl Sandburg’s Chicago Poems. The set is a beautiful tribute to one of America’s foremost poets whose words seem to naturally suggest musical accompaniment. The song cycle of 16 poems includes this take on “Chicago”, which the Atlantic recently premiered in audio and which we now share with you in video form.

Nagler tells PopMatters that “the video for “Chicago” combines archival footage of Chicago in the early 20th century (when the text for Carl Sandburg’s poem was written and published) with footage from the recording of the Chicago Poems album and the project’s first live performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City. In the writing, arranging, and recording of this song, I wanted to evoke the time period that the archival footage comes from — hopefully the video reflects that. The video highlights Sandburg’s legendary words, which have been inextricably linked to Chicago for over a century now. You also get a look at some of the Chicago-based guests at the end of the video, many of whom sang along as ‘the mob’.”