Tomorrow March 2, 2009

On the surface, “Tomorrow” sounds just like any old country song.  It mentions trains, missing your baby, and Waylon Jennings, for god’s sake…  But when you find out a little more about the situation, the song is a lot heavier.  I never really looked into it, but found out just this evening that the song was co-written by Carrie Hamilton, who passed away during the making of Demolition.  While you could look at the song literally and see it revolving around a man and woman who are physically and geographically seperated, it’s hard to not think about two people being seperated by death. 

When you think about introducing death into the lyrics, the first lines of the second verse really mean something more than they do at face.  “A million miles of nothing/Yeah, you’re driving all alone” represents that journey she’s making by herself into whatever comes after life.

Voices February 17, 2009

I feel like the album’s artwork is a visual presentation of today’s song: “Voices.”  The lyrics quite obviously deal with someone dying, and the cover (drawn by Ryan himself) shows a cloaked figure with a scythe walking towards a house with some other shadowy people walking behind him. 

It’s interesting to see all of these songs about the same topic on 29.  I mean, death is found pretty frequently in music and other forms of art; but there are references to people trying to resist death.  Look at “The Sadness”, which is truly a battle over whether or not the main character gets to live.  This song isn’t as violent or action packed, but much more somber.  Really, the resistance towards death is over, and it’s just a lot of begging. 

“Voices” is one of the songs I find hardest to listen to.  I feel like there’s too much emotion and intensity sometimes, and I seriously have to end it early.  I’m just a big baby, though…

Do Miss America February 6, 2009

I mentioned this in the post about “Wish You Were Here”, but I feel the need to say it again.  For some reason, I think Ryan Adams is brilliant when he’s writing rude songs.  While “Do Miss America” doesn’t feature lyrics that are gloriously vulgar like “Wish You Were Here”, there’s a really cool arrogance and attitude that can’t be found on many of his other songs.  It’s like Billy Idol…  You know, if Billy Idol was cooler and had constant bedhead instead of those bleached spikes…

I think the song’s lyrics are about how everyone loves to watch a trainwreck.  Look at how the media goes wild about Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Courtney Love, and, to a lesser extent, Ryan Adams whenever they make a big scene at a gas station, awards show, or Ryman Auditorium.  People love to watch freakouts, and it’s almost like they’re egging them on.  These lyrics have a fierce sarcasm, like they’re laughing at the person’s problems. (“So, tell me how you feel without your medicine?/Hold your head, feeling paranoid/Sweet sixteen for a schizoid”) 

Then comes the chorus, where he encourages everyone to get their shots in while the person is at their all-time low.  (“Hey!/C’mon! Everybody do Miss America/Hey!/You know that when she goes down, it’s hysterical”)  The end result of this constant harassment isn’t a good one, as the closing line of the last verse is changed to “sweet black smoke from a crooked gun.” 

A really cool song that gets overlooked far too often…

Starting To Hurt January 18, 2009

This song is one of several from the time period that feature some very strained singing.  You can hear it on a lot of the tracks from Rock n Roll and Love Is Hell as well as a few on Demolition.  This song sonically and thematically fits in really well with the opening track on the album, “Nuclear.”  Besides the painful-sounding vocals, there’s the topic of death.  (In this case, jumping off of a building)  There’s a big difference, though.  While the death in “Nuclear” happens in a “flash of pure destruction”, this one is prolonged and painful. 

Really, you’d think that falling off of a building would end it all pretty fast, but I guess that’s not the case.  Of course, this song probably isn’t referring to the physical pain.  The narrator says “It’s a long way down/But I feel alright” before acknowleding that it’s “Starting to hurt.”  I think he’s realizing what he’s doing as he falls, and decides that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Now, I heard a story somewhere about how this was supposedly inspired by a true case of someone jumping off of a rooftop.  Any truth?

The Sadness December 27, 2008

Ryan Adams has conquered folk music, country, garage rock, rap (as DJ Reggie), and just about every other genre you could throw at him.  Oddly enough, he never recorded any latin music.  Enter “The Sadness”

With quacking reverb-laden electric guitars, dramatic vocal delivery, and a pulsing bass-snare rhythm, the Latin influence on “The Sadness” is undeniable.  The lyrics have some of those great Southwestern themes: deserts, horses, trains, and a bullfighter’s red cape.  (“She opens her cloak and it’s the cover of the blood”)  The coolest part of the song is the slide guitar lick that comes right after “That’s why you’re not helping me.”  There are other influences in the song, too.  Some of them are incredibly unlikely, such as the R.E.M.-like guitar part in the “Please have mercy, let me go” part of the chorus. 

The lyrics are some of the most intense and romantic (in the literary sense of the word) he’s ever written.  The narrator is facing death and is trying to keep himself alive.  While he tries to fight, begs, and ultimately ceases to live; there’s a woman (his signifcant other?) who is fighting to save his life.  The lyrics are frightening.  Especially: “Something’s at the window/It motions with its fingers/Calling me beyond.”  I find it interesting that while he’s pleading with his taker, he says “…let me go/If only a day to let her know/I am nothing without her.”  This gives the impression that she has saved him before.  However, this time her efforts can’t help him…

Just a note: when I met/talked to him after the show in St. Louis, the songs on 29 came up.  Another fan asked if he would be playing this one with the Cardinals anytime soon.  Ryan explained that he wouldn’t, and that some of the songs on this album took him right back to the painful state of mind he was in when he wrote them.