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Brandi Carlile - That Year (live for Last.fm Discover)
Part of me is really hoping Brandi plays this (and/or her cover of Ray Lamontagne’s Burn) when I see her tonight, since you know, it’s a beautiful song and one of my favorites. The other part of me hopes she skips it since it’ll probably make me sad and depressed for the rest of the night, but that part’s lame and has bad taste.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Sufjan Stevens- The Owl and the Tanager
How I was wrong, tingling from the kill
Tickle me until, you devil bird you evil still
Slept on my arms, I was sleeping in the sill
I was sleeping in the room with you
You little boy, you little boy
How could you run from me now?
The loneliest chime in the house
The loneliest chime in the house
You let it out, you let it out
Come to me Calvary still
I’m weeding and raking until
I’m bleeding in spite of my love for you
It bruised and bruised my will
This song has been haunting me for the last week, and I haven’t been able to figure out a full interpretation for it, which is going to slowly drive me insane. I can see it being about a relationship where the narrator cares much more than the other person and is abandoned, with anger and violence leading to sex that still ends with the narrator being ultimately alone. But I can also see it being about a sexual relationship between two male friends that both are conflicted over and that gets derailed after one reveals what’s going on to others, leading the narrator to be unable to deal with his feelings and leave the other person alone and waiting forever. (I’m hoping I’m not just projecting that and that other people see it in the text too) It’s the most raw and sadly beautiful moment on an EP filled with ennui, angst, crises of faith, and neediness. Sufjan utilizes just the piano here, and his playing is largely delicate and sparse with fuller more classical moments occuring later and keeping the music from becoming repetitive. The focus is on Sufjan’s lonely and pain-soaked vocal, which has a much more mature tone to it than on Illinois and less of the affected shakiness that characterized his higher vocals on that record, resulting in a song that’s memorable and devastating.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Ryan Adams - Dear Chicago
Nothing breathes here in the cold.
Nothing moves or even smiles.
I’ve been thinking some of suicide,
But there’s bars out here for miles.
Sorry about the every kiss.
Every kiss you wasted bad.
I think the thing you said was true,
I’m gonna die alone and sad.
Here’s a nice gut-punch of a song for your Monday afternoon. What’s most interesting to me about this song is how it doesn’t feel overdramatic at all (even with those lyrics), just heartbroken and honest. I know Ryan Adams doesn’t want to be “the bummer king” any more, but he’s better at it than any other current male songwriter. (Yes, including Bon Iver and Conor Oberst. Don’t start.) He never sounds whiny like all the emo boys, keeping his vocals strong and calm enough that self-pity doesn’t overtake the song. The guitar provides varying enough instrumentation that the song doesn’t feel bare, but it’s subtle, allowing the vocals and lyrics to take center stage, and the little imperfections in the song like how you can hear Ryan’s hand moving up and down the guitar neck create a greater sense of intimacy than there would be with more studio polish.
And just think, this song didn’t even make it onto a real album, just a demo collection. There’s a treasure trove of unreleased material hiding in Ryan’s vaults, and I hope he gets moving on releasing some of it soon.
Source: newyearskiss
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Call me on your way back home- Ryan Adams
I didn’t think this song could get any sadder, but the slightly changed lyrics here (from “I just wanna die without you” to “I’m just gonna die without you) make it even more depressing. And thus better.
Source: fuckyeahdra
