Jansch was a Scottish folk guitarist and singer who first made it big in mid-60s and was sometimes called the "British Bob Dylan." He made such an impact that Led Zeppelin, arguably the greatest rock band of all time, stole one of his songs (Jansch's record label didn't think they could win the case and decided not to pursue legal action).
As for today's song, it's my favorite of Jansh's works. It has a bouncy rhythm and a sad tone. When I first heard it, I had just filed for divorce. Seeing the name and linking it to the music made me think about a man who is trying to tell himself that the woman he's lost was no one special (or "nothing"); I saw it as a song about lying to yourself. Now, with my divorce nearly completed, the song is still melancholy, but not in the same way. Now I hear a song that's sad, not because the lost love is irreplaceable, but because you realize that she was never who you thought she was: the sadness is not from lying to yourself now, but from realizing you've been lying to yourself the whole and are only now seeing the truth.
"Lady Nothing" is one of those songs that I reacted to strongly when first hearing it. Now, more than a year later, it's meaning has changed, but it still touches my heart in a way that few other songs have.
"Lady Nothing" is from Bert Jansch's album L.A. Turnaround, which is distributed by Charisma Records.
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