A Well-Spent Life

This short documentary is about Mance Lipscomb, a country Blues guitarist who was discovered when he was in his 60s. Despite some fame and money from the sale of his albums, he was a very simple man and enjoyed his lifestyle. The film consists of Lipscomb just talking and reminiscing about his life...with no narration or much in the way of structure. Now this makes for a somewhat dull film, I'll admit it. But I STILL am glad they made "A Well-Spent Life" because it's a historical document of the man, his times and a lost way of life. And, as a retired history teacher, this alone would recommend this picture.

"This world is made for everybody.... I'm looking to see that the young race of people combine together, black and white. If you got a little, you and me is together. We're gonna be one nation of people." Respect.

Mance Liscomb, a portrait of a man at 75 years, abandoned by his father when he was 11 for another woman; raised 23 kids and got the nickname "Daddy Mance" (a lot of them from his sister who died); worked the farm his whole life for not much money, like 50 to 75 cents a day at times (but he was always happy and healthy); had a wife who he loved and she loved him (but no bs tolerated); and always, beautifully, played the blues as true and soulful like he lived it and found his fame in his 60s thanks to the "young people."

What a man. He's like RL Burnside without the, you know, killing. This is the kind of pure cinema where you have "Night time is the right time" playing over shots of the purple and blue night sky and it feels like rhis is exactly what the medium of celluloid was made for. It could be longer, with more detail about how he got a record contract and so on, but why mess with something that is so immersive into the world and deep philosophy (and food) of Mance such as this? You even get a baptism! Last but not least, you know someone has lived an unapologetic, hard and (as the title suggests) "well-spent" kind of life when a man like Mance Liscomb can take a whole giant mass of watermelon with the seeds in his mouth no problem. Damn, man.

Mance Lipscomb grew up a poor black tenant farmer in Texas born in 1895. He's also a great guitarist and blues singer. In 1960, he got signed to a recording contract. It's a hard good life. This is existence. It's a real slice of a man's life. It's a legacy. It seems like an easy going time in poverty at first and then he talks about his one-legged neighbor. Mostly, it's his voice and his songs. The filmmaker injects some questions from time to time but it is mostly the man. It's a culture. It's a time and place. It's the man.

"God made us here in this world to live peaceful and quiet and get along together."

In addition to hearing the very pleasant acoustic folk/blues strummings of Mance Lipscomb in this touching little tribute to him, it's also a treat to hear him muse about life and dole out some gentle wisdom. He was 75 when this was filmed and had lived a humble life, one that might make a man bitter - his father had been a slave (think about that for a second) and had left the family when Mance was 11, he lived in poverty as a sharecropper, and was oppressed by the white "boss man" with no ability to do anything other than take it. In between hearing him play songs like "Night Time is the Right Time" he talks about things like the need for friendship and love as the basis of marriage and a lifelong commitment (even if his wife hilariously refuses to eat at the dinner table with him because he stood her up 50 years ago). He also talks about living a simple life, accepting others, and living in harmony. We see a slice of life in rural Texas, and an enlightened old soul in addition to being treated to his music.

I suppose most viewers, like me, come to this film to witness a great blues musician perform. There certainly is a lot of fine music. (Lipscomb is one of the great rhythm guitarists with that pick on his thumb!)

However, there is so much more: a close-up of an intelligent, thoughtful and generous man. Two things that stand out are the story of the man who became a good husband only after his wife shot him and left him lying in a field all night, and Lipscombe's pride in the children he helped raise (3 adoptees, his younger siblings after their dad left, and 17 grandchildren).

As priceless as the recordings of Lipscombe's music are, the film is also important for preserving a sense of his noble spirit.