Last night, I went to Champaign to see Jeff Tweedy doing a solo show at Foellinger Auditorium, and decided to listen to Cardinology on the trip up there. One of the passengers in the car (who I hadn’t met before earlier that evening) noticed the Ryan Adams/Cardinals posters in my room and said he was a fan, too. What proceeded was one of the greatest nerd-offs ever: the debate over what the best song on Cardinology was.
He agreed with me that “Magick” and “Crossed Out Name” were the two best, it was the order that we couldn’t reach a consensus on. He said he felt like his voice was a lot stronger on “Magick” than on the rest of the songs, and that it was probably the best representation of The Cardinals playing off of each other. I argued that, while “Magick” totally kicks ass, it doesn’t contain the emotional knock-out you get when you hear lines like “I wish I could tell you just how I’m hurt” and “When I close my eyes, I see a fire so plain/And my crossed out name…”
Really, hearing him sing “MY crossed out name” seems to hit a lot harder than “a crossed out name.” He doesn’t sing it much differently, but those two letters completely transform the lyric for the listener. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like that’s what makes this song go above and beyond the rest for me…
I agree wholeheartedly-I love ‘Crossed Out Name’ – unquestionably the best track on Cardinology and one of my fav Ryan tracks full stop. IMO of course….
Its a great song. I’d probably put it at # 2 or 3 on Cardinology, behind Magick and Fix IT, but I won’t argue with anyone who puts it first.
I love the lyric “I love the dresses, the shoes, and the clothes, and everything you know that goes, with loving a girl I suppose.”
I loved this song from the first time he played it on his blog and I was so happy it was on the album. Marginally, I still like the
acoustic version best but it does sound great in concert.