Halloween Song: Over The Rhine - “Jacksie"

NOTE: A new Incoming was posted earlier today.

A few months back, I mentioned that August 6, 2024 marked the 15th anniversary of my Broken Hearted Toy blog. The celebratory posts I planned for this milestone fell by the wayside, but I’d still like to continue my tradition of posting Halloween songs throughout October. Here’s the first Halloween song profile I ever wrote for Broken Hearted Toy, all the way back in 2009.

“Jacksie” is the first track on Patience, the 1992 debut album from Over The Rhine. The Cincinnati-based band, founded by vocalist/guitarist Karin Bergquist and bassist/keyboards player Linford Detweiler, has garnered critical acclaim for decades by setting thought-provoking lyrics to inventive folk, country, and indie rock arrangements. Detweiler based the song on theologian C.S. Lewis’s book, A Grief Observed, spinning the author’s heartfelt reflections on the loss of a loved one into a compelling and beautiful ballad. 

Still, a casual listener could be forgiven for thinking this is a classic ghost story. Especially with lines such as, “They laid her in the ground./She still comes around./A love that never dies takes you by surprise.” Bergquist’s ethereal vocals, set to a serene arrangement, sends chills up the listener’s spine, especially when her “la la la la la la la” echoes like you’re traveling through a dark forest.

Over The Rhine continues to perform and record impressive music, and hosts the Nowhere Else Festival every summer.