In 1968, Tim Hardin, who Bob Dylan once called “the greatest songwriter alive,” gave an interview with a magazine called Disc and Music Echo concerning the personal and professional problems that had already beset his once-promising career, problems that would follow him all the way to his untimely death of a drug overdose in 1980 at age 39. Speaking about his difficulties connecting with everyone from his audience to his friends, he said, “People understand me through my songs. It’s my one way to communicate.”
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The sadly ironic thing about that statement is that the majority of people who heard those songs did so through the cover versions done by other artists. “If I Were A Carpenter” became a hit for Bobby Darin, The Four Tops, and Johnny Cash and June Carter. “Don’t Make Promises” was a single for the Beau Brummels. Of a more recent vintage, Okkervil River used Hardin’s “Black Sheep Boy” as the title track for a 2005 album partially inspired by the late singer’s difficult life.
The unlikely trajectory of “Reason To Believe”, a song first performed by Hardin on his 1966 debut album Tim Hardin 1, is perhaps most emblematic of his star-crossed career. The song is a melancholy beauty, sung by Hardin in dejected tones that suggest he’s likely to fall again for the deceptive ploys of the girl he’s addressing and suffer dire consequences as a result. “If I listened long enough to you,” he sings, “I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true.” Hardin’s narrator walks that fine line between sacrifice and self-destruction: “Someone like you makes it easy to give/ Never thinking about myself.” The final line implies he’s soon to cross over that line against all better judgment: “Still I look to find a reason to believe.”
In 1971, Rod Stewart not only chose the song to close out his album Every Picture Tells a Story but also made it the opening single. Stewart gives an achingly soulful performance, moaning alongside the sympathetic Hammond organ of Ian McLagan and even singing a portion a cappella in a showstopper of a moment. Yet what could have been a huge boost for Hardin’s back catalog got sidetracked when the B-side of Stewart’s single started gaining attention and eventually was flip-flopped to the A-side. The song in question: “Maggie May,” which turned out to be the signature song of Stewart’s illustrious career.
In 1993, Stewart reunited with his old Faces buddy Ronnie Wood for an MTV Unplugged appearance that would later become the album Unplugged … and Seated. The pair decided to dust off “Reason To Believe.” Behind a winningly ramshackle arrangement, Stewart’s relaxed vocal gave the song an almost joyful feel. That attitude change seemed to resonate, as the live version of the song garnered enough airplay to push it to #19 on the US charts, completing its 27-year journey to Hitsville.
That the song reached the peak of its success well after its author had passed away is pretty much par for the course for Tim Hardin’s story. Thus “Reason To Believe” serves as a testament to both the excellence of his songwriting and the misfortune of his life.
