Exploring Guy Clark's Mantra, "Stuff that works..."

In the song "Stuff that Works" off his 1995 album Dublin Blues, Guy Clark ponders the things in life that really matter. He starts with the material: his old blue shirt, his beat up guitar, his worn in boots. Stuff that works. Stuff that holds up.

As the song progresses, Guy seems to move from the material to the intangible. In the second verse, he considers his "pretty good friend who's seen [him] at [his] worst" and “can't tell if [he’s] a blessing or a curse" and, in the final verse, he praises the woman he loves, whose name he has tattooed "right through [his] soul." These final two verses appear to move towards some greater truth about the nature of “what matters,” but it’s a mistake to think that the final two verses of the song are about something different from the opening.

The subjects throughout the song are not the items themselves nor the people, but the feeling of realness they conjure. It's not about the guitar, it's about how it sounds "in a dark and empty room." It's not about the boots, it's the way they "fit just right" so "[he] can work all day and [he] can dance all night." It’s not about his friend, it’s about the type of person who “always shows up when the chips are down.” It’s not about his lover, it’s the feeling that “everything she touches turns to gold.” These are the things we reach for when we fall. This is the stuff that works.

In each Blackwing 1 subscription box, we included a patch and a sticker featuring the mantra “Stuff That Works.” Creating stuff that works is something we strive for and, like the subjects of Guy’s song, we want it to go beyond the pencils themselves. We want our pencils to make you feel something; to enable and inspire your creativity. It’s a feeling I’ve reached for when I’ve fallen and, if we can do the same for someone, somewhere who’s using our pencils, I think we're doing our job.

Guy with some of his favorite things. Wayne Brezinka Assemblage, cut paper, collage, and mixed media on canvas