Closer When She Goes February 26, 2009

I’ve always liked listening to this one, and it made perfect sense that it would appear on an EP rather than a regular album due to its length, but it’s just never felt like a real song to me.  It’s just verse-chorus-verse-chorus DONE!  The lyrics are all pretty good, and I feel like they were definitely onto something really cool.  I’m not sure why it was never made into a full-length album track, though.  I always think about that when I hear it, and I’d be lying if I said sometimes it makes me feel just a little bit shortchanged.  The Halloween EP has one pretty good song (“Halloween”), one really great song (“Funeral Marching”) and what sounds like a demo that they threw on for the sake of having three songs. 

A nice listen, but it always leaves me wanting more.  (And not in the good way)

This Is It February 14, 2009

I have a friend whose favorite Ryan Adams songs are the ones where his voice sounds really strained.  There are several on Demolition, a few on Love Is Hell, and a few more found on Rock n Roll.  One of those songs is the one I’m writing about today: “This Is It.”  It’s very reflective of the early 2000s back-to-the-garage movement that saw a surge of bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, and every other band with “The” in front of their names.  However, most of their lyrics are somewhat charming, while the same can’t be said for “This Is It.” 

I mean, seriously, how can you kiss someone on the teeth?  I guess you could if you tried, but I don’t know that you’d really want to.  For the most part, though, the rest of the lyrics make sense.  It has a really nice, big chorus: “Don’t waste my time/This is it/This is really happening.”  But it sticks to its punk rock guns throughout the whole song, only straying when the synths kick in before the second chorus. (which sounds really cool)

Cherry Lane February 12, 2009

When I listened to Cold Roses for the first time, I was really enjoying it.  I mean, how could you not like an album that starts off with a track as awesome as “Magnolia Mountain” and covers everything from rowdy garage rock to country/jam rock?  So, I’m truckin’ through the album, having myself a good time, and then “Cherry Lane” starts up.  The guitar intro sounds great…  Then comes one of the strangest sounds I’ve ever heard come out of a human being.  EVER.  It’s supposed to be “Every night”, but it comes out like someone stepping up some creaky steps. 

Once you get past the opening line, though, it’s a totally kick-ass song.  Really, it doesn’t fall into that “jam rock” category that well, and has a very original sound.  There’s a country influence, but not a whole lot of alternative edge.  Well, with the exception of the word “fuck” appearing.  That one doesn’t find its way into a whole lot of country songs…

Ah, Life January 16, 2009

I really dig Moroccan Role for taking that garage rock sound and attitude that was found on Rock n Roll and adding a country vibe to it.  “Ah, Life” is like some love child of “This Is It” and “To Be Young.”  I don’t know if anyone else will understand what I’m talking about, but the delivery of his vocals reminds me of “Lady Madonna” by the Beatles, for some odd reason.  I can’t really explain it, so I won’t. 

Really, the song is just a look at people living weird lives.  There’s nothing exciting about them, really. They’re just odd.  Principal Victoria just sits around on the computer all day, Michael lives with her in Central Park using money they supposedly got from “an uncle eaten by a shark.”  They like coffee and tea, respectively.  That’s all you need to know about them, I guess.  Then there’s the mysterious Gloria, whose verse includes references to divorce lawyers and leaving her number by the bed.  You don’t get the real scoop on her, but you can make up your own juicy details or whatever.

Don’t Ask For The Water January 1, 2009

I’ve always felt like Heartbreaker was a mediocre album.  While it contained some truly great songs, there was a lot of material that just never did much for me.  While the songs were decent (by my expectations for Ryan Adams’ music), it seemed like they just blended in with the furniture.  “Don’t Ask For The Water” was one of those songs.  It always kind of bothered me, too.  I really like the lyrics, and the version featured on the Exile on Franklin Street bootleg really appealed to me.  The recording that appeared on Heartbreaker just seemed too empty for me. 

The bootleg version features some nice crying electric guitar leads that really add to the emotion in the lyrics.  It doesn’t sound nearly as country as the album version, but there’s a very nice Beatles-esque quality to it.  (Similar to AMY)  It makes you wonder how many of the other songs could have received this treatment, which would have made Heartbreaker a much different album.  While there is a rugged charm to Heartbreaker, a lot of the material might have benefited from a more polished sound, similar to what Wilco did on Summerteeth. 

“Don’t Ask For The Water” didn’t live up to its recorded potential and deserves to be revisited.  It hasn’t been played since 2002, which is when the shows became much more of a full band affair.  The bootleg version could be a great addition to a set, and I hope the band considers it.

1974 December 28, 2008

Let me start by saying I enjoy most of Rock n Roll.  It’s not the kind of album I can listen to every day, but I think it’s totally decent.  Still, 1974 is easily one of my least favorite Ryan Adams songs.  The music is incredibly similar to “Note To Self: Don’t Die”, but the lyrics just aren’t nearly as good.  Some of the lines sound like something out a bad 1980’s pop-metal song.  Let’s be honest, a line like “the city is an animal ready to eat” would fit perfectly in a Guns ‘n’ Roses song.

The lyrics don’t seem to have much to with each other, really.  It’s just a lot of statements that come at you one after another.  I wonder if some of them mean anything at all.  For example: “It’s raining like the bombs in my room when I’m alone.” 

I will say that the “Do you wanna?/Do you wanna?/Do you wanna?” part is kinda cool…

Cold Roses December 23, 2008

There are a lot of songs in Ryan Adams’ catalog that deal with questionable decisions.  Some of them are about enjoying these decisions, others are about the damage they do…  This one, “Cold Roses”, features a narrator looking at a female acquaintance and how these decisions impact her life.  Whatever it is she’s doing is causing some serious physical and emotional damage to her, and he’s watching it all.

The opening verse is “Mirrors in the room go black and blue/On a Sunday morning in her Saturday shoes/We don’t choose who we love/We don’t choose.”  This friend (?) of his went out and did some things (or people…) she didn’t want to.  Maybe her judgment was a little clouded from drugs/alcohol the night before.  She’s had a rough night and when she looks in the mirror, she sees just how damaged she is.  ”Sunday morning in her Saturday shoes” means she hasn’t caught up with real-life yet, which is really troubling.  I love this line the most, just because I think it’s really, really clever.

The second verse is more of the same, really.  He sings “Lights over the Midway melt on the street/In her Sunday shoes on her Saturday feet/She don’t choose who she love/She don’t need what she use.”  She’s out and about on Sunday even though she’s still coming down from whatever she was doing the night before.  My guess is that she isn’t feeling too well and realizes that whatever she does isn’t good for her, but feels like she doesn’t control it.  Then comes the chorus: “Daylight comes and exposes/Saturday’s bruises and cold roses.”  She realizes how bad things are when she’s sober, which is the day after she goes out and raises all kinds of hell.  That’s when she can see “Saturday’s bruises.” 

 The narrator says “Nothing but the sunlight can help you grow/From underneath your bed, you can’t see the window.”  She has to realize she has a problem before she can grow out of it.  If she doesn’t recognize this by lying to herself (hiding “underneath [her] bed”), she’s doing herself a disservice by keeping herself from getting healthy.  He says she’s “Fortunate and angry, just like a child/All this money buys you medicine it can’t buy you time”, which is a pretty harsh truth.  Maybe by calling her out like this, he’ll make her realize something’s wrong.

You never find out what happens, so you can go ahead and make your own ending.  I like to think she sees her mistakes and recovers, but that’s just me…

Wish You Were Here December 16, 2008

Ryan Adams has done a lot of songs that could be categorized as “love songs”, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be “Wish You Were Here.”  With lyrics like “It’s totally fucked up/I’m totally fucked up/Wish you were here”, what girl could resist?  The lyrics are dirty, filthy, and sometimes kind of stupid, but they manage to be embarrassingly charming…

The lyrics, at least to me, seem to be a criticism of himself and the girl he’s singing to.  “Cotton candy and a rotten mouth/You know you’re so fucked up” targets her, but he quickly adds “You know I couldn’t help but have it for you.”  So while he knows she’s pretty awful, he’s a part of the problem, too.  He follows that by explaining that “Everybody knows the way I walk/And knows the way I talk/And knows the way I feel about you.”  Everyone understands that he’s trouble, so it’s no surprise that he would be attracted to her.  Right about now he’s running the risk of saying too much, so he dismisses it as “all a bunch of shit.”  But he hints back at wanting her by saying “There’s nothing to do around here…” and then coming out and admitting that he wishes she was there with him. 

The second verse is about how lonely he feels in the city without her.  Suddenly, he goes right back into his explanation about how he feels about her (and how everyone knows about it.)  But after that verse, he launches into a new section: “If I could have my way/We’d take some drugs/And we’d smile/But not tonight/My dear.”  This gives me the impression that the narrator, while he still wishes the girl was there to go wild with him, knows that it’s a bad idea and doesn’t act on his impulses.

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