Close call leads singer back to his true calling
Marc Cohn began recording again after being shot in the head in 2005
 | Video |
 |
Marc Cohn is still making music Jan. 24: The singer talks about his new album, “Join the Parade,” and his upcoming tour. Today Show Entertainment |
 | Slideshow |
 | Celeb sightings Ashlee, Pete and many more celebs ring in the New Year, Lindsay heads to the beach, Cloris is rosey and more. more photos |
Marc Cohn’s song “Live Out the String” begins with the lyrics “Maybe life is curious to see what you would do with the gift of being left alive.”
For Cohn, those are not just words on lined paper.
“I haven’t released a record in a decade,” he told TODAY’s Matt Lauer and Al Roker on Thursday before performing the song, which is one of 10 on his new album, “Join the Parade,” in the studio. “To be able to record it and now tour behind it is what it’s all about.”
It took getting shot in the head by a would-be carjacker on Aug. 7, 2005, and then watching New Orleans being ravaged by Hurricane Katrina two months later to make Cohn ask the question that inspired his return to songwriting.
He and his band were returning to their hotel in Denver after giving a concert when a man ran up to the car with a gun. Cohn yelled “Duck!” an instant before the man fired a shot that shattered the windshield and struck him in the head. Miraculously, the bullet did not penetrate his skull, and he never lost consciousness.
“I still have some emotional problems,” he told Lauer and Roker, before adding with a laugh, “But I always did.”
But after the twin traumas of nearly losing his own life and then watching so many others lose everything, he found himself compelled to start writing songs again.
“Live Out the String” is a soulful song and a celebration of survival.
“Live out the string a little longer, boy,” he sang. “Raise your voice and make a joyful noise. Ain’t a guarantee, but if anything, live out the string.”
The 48-year-old Cleveland native had his greatest success in 1991 with his first album, “Marc Cohn,” and its hit single, “Walking in Memphis.” He released two more albums in the next seven years as he continued to tour. But until his experience in Denver, he hadn’t produced any new material.
He admitted to being apprehensive about going back out on tour and leaving his wife, ABC News reporter Elizabeth Vargas, and their two young sons, Zachary, who will be 5 on Jan. 31, and Samuel, who was born on Aug. 16, 2006.
“I was quite anxious about it,” he said. “It’s hard to leave home.”
But he’s arranged the tour so that he’s on the road for a maximum of 2½ weeks at a time and then back home for a week to 10 days before going back out. By the time the tour is over, he expects to have played in 50 American cities.
He seemed thrilled to be performing again, to be living out the string.
“It was just great to have 10 songs that I believed in,” he said. And it will be great to be singing in front of live audiences, he said, adding, “I missed it.”
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
- Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM ENTERTAINMENT |
 Entertainment Section Front |
| Add Entertainment headlines to your news reader: |