Back in the early 1990's, a radio DJ by the name of Vin Scelsa hosted
a free-form radio program called "Idiot's Delight". It aired every
Sunday at 8pm and ran for three hours. I loved this program, but with
three kids and a job, there was no way I could listen to it in that time
slot. To solve the problem, I purchased a dual cassette deck and a bunch of 90
minute cassette tapes for the sole purpose of taping "Idiot's Delight" every
Sunday night. I'd listen to these tapes for the next week as I commuted back and forth from work. Vin's
eclectic taste in music often introduced me to songs I had never heard
before. Whenever that happened I would transfer these songs to a "Best of Vin"
tape when I got home. Over the course of 13 years, I compiled 25 of
these tapes which I'd often play in the car during family trips.
By the mid-2000's almost all major automakers stopped offering cassette players as an option, replacing them with CD players. My "Best of Vin" tapes began to collect dust. But that wasn't a big problem. By then I had acquired most of these songs on CD's or MP3's and was burning CD's that could be played in the car. The real problem was that some of the music Vin played was either live or demo recordings that never made it to mainstream distribution.
A few weeks ago, something caused me to fire up my ancient JVC cassette player and browse through my "
Best of Vin Tapes". It was then that I rediscovered a beautiful, quirky tune from 1992 that I had completely forgotten about called "
The Architecture Song", written and performed by
Jon Ims. A quick scan of my iTunes library revealed that I had never acquired a digital copy of that song, so I decided to rectify that omission. But after searching the Internet for the better part of a day, I was unable to find any version of this song performed by Jon Ims. Here's what I did find:
- Jon was a very respected songwriter. It's possible he's still a very respected songwriter, but even AI couldn't confirm that he was alive. Per AI, he has "intentionally stepped completely away from the public eye". Take that for what you will.
- A duo called Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen included a version of "The Architecture Song" in their album called A Sense of Place. I haven't listened to it and doubt I will.
- Another song Jon wrote (which I also love) was a #1 country hit for Trisha Yearwood called "She's in Love With the Boy". It's actually ranked #129 on Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time. Yearwood's version is OK, I guess, but it pales in comparison to the sweet, humor-tinged version by Ims that Vin also played from time to time. Somehow, I managed to get a digital copy of it but, like "The Architecture Song", it's not available anywhere on the Internet.
All of this information was great, but not at all what I was looking for. I simply wanted a clean, digital copy of "
The Architecture Song" that I could play on my iPhone whenever I wanted. My only alternative was to connect my old cassette player to my laptop (using a product I got on eBay called U-Control by a company called Behringer) and create a digital copy from the surprisingly clear analog version on my 1992 cassette tape. Take a few minutes and listen to it
here. While listening, read the lyrics
here. I'll wait ....
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All done? I know what you're probably thinking: "Wow, that was a lot of effort for such a simple country/folk song!" Fair point. Actually, there's even more to it than this. I became so fixated with this song that I needed to know the backstory. Who was Adler? Who were the Blairs? Did they actually exist? Was this farmhouse-style house ever built? If so, where is it? Well, here comes "the rest of the story".
David Adler was, indeed, an architect, and a pretty accomplished one at that. Per his
Wikipedia page, he was born in 1882 and died in 1949 at the age of 67. Although he was born in Wisconsin, he left at the age of 16 to attend the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, only a few miles from me. In 1900, he enrolled in Princeton University and graduated in 1904.
From January 2022 to January 2025, PBS aired a 4-part series of his life, entitled "David Adler: Great House Architect" which discussed the life and works of David Adler (1882–1949), the "society architect". Apparently, he designed more than 45 grand homes for people that PBS referred to as "America's elite".
William and Helen Blair were, indeed, an
elite American couple. They married in 1912 and remained together until Helen's death in 1972. (William died in 1982 at the age of 97.) In the mid-1920's, they met with David Adler who, at the time, was designing sprawling country homes based, in part on the American Colonial Revival style. The Blairs, with 4 children, determined that this was the style of house they needed.
The House: The house was completed in 1926 and was referred to by its owners as "
Port o' Call". A picture of how it looked back then is shown at the top of this post. In 1929 it was written up in Volume 50 of
The Architectural Forum. In the almost impossible chance that you want to learn
even more about this house, I found
this YouTube video. A photo of what the house currently looks like is below. Its located in Lake Bluff, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago and is in the National Register of Historic Places. Here's the
exact location if you feel like dropping in for a visit.
Wrapping it Up: I have no idea how to get in touch with Jon Ims. But if I did, I'd have a few questions for him regarding this song. First and foremost, what made him choose David Adler and Port o' Call as the subject of a country/folk song? I can't think of any other song in any genre that is dedicated to an architect and his house. I'd also like to know if Jon was he happy with this song? If he was, why can't I find a video of him on YouTube performing it?
And what, exactly, is the message that he's trying to convey? I'm thinking it has to be connected to the refrain which is repeated 4 times, but changes slightly as it goes along. The first two times it's "On their way back home". Then it's "On the way back home". And then the last time it's "On our way back home". That had to have been done on purpose, right? I asked AI to weigh in on the song's meaning and it responded with this:
"The track is a deeply unconventional love song. It uses the meticulous framing, joists, and structural integrity of an old farmhouse as a metaphor for an enduring partnership."
Until Jon tells me otherwise, I guess I'll have to live with that.
