La Cienega Just Smiled March 6, 2009

One thing I’ve always really appreciated about “La Cienega Just Smiled” is how casual the imagery is.  It all starts with the one of the first lines: “It’s on with the jeans, a jacket, and a shirt.”  You also get the impression that this relationship isn’t necessarily as serious as the one found in some other songs.  There’s still a level of uncertainty that comes with a young relationship, and when he sings “I’m too scared to know how I feel about you now”, it’s all painfully obvious.  This whole song is about not being able to understand someone.  He’s going through all of this trouble to figure her out, and she acts like it’s all no big deal.  She just smiles and waves goodbye…

This is one I think most listeners can relate to pretty easily.  At one point or another, we’ve all been attracted to a person who sometimes seems like they’re more work than they’re worth.  I think it’s really great that the song doesn’t provide any closure as to how he ends up feeling about her.  She just says she’ll see him around. (Whatever that means…)

Somehow, Someday March 3, 2009

Telling someone how you feel about them can be way harder than it should.  This song features a narrator who obviously has some pretty serious feelings (and romantic interest) towards someone he has known for quite a while now, and he’s trying to figure out how he’s going to let her know that he wants his relationship with her to move from friendship to something heavier.  It looks like telling her is his only option, too.  He openly admits “There ain’t no way I’ll ever stop from loving now.”  This doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s going to be telling her soon, though.  When he says “I’m gonna try and show you somehow/Somehow…/Someday…” 

Who knows when “someday” will come?  To be honest, there’s a really good chance that it never comes… 

I’ve always really enjoyed this song, and I feel like it would have been a great choice for a single.  As an R.E.M. fan, I find the guitars pretty much irresistable, and I imagine Peter Buck would definitely be proud.  This song just has such a big chorus, it’s a shame that it wasn’t sent out to promote Gold.

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.

My Winding Wheel February 22, 2009

I’ve expressed in several other posts on here that I never really saw Heartbreaker as the amazing album that a lot of other fans do.  I feel like it has some good songs and a few that are absolutely amazing, such as “Oh My Sweet Carolina” and today’s song: “My Winding Wheel.”  It’s a pretty simple folk song, all built around a loose guitar rhythm and lyrics about lovving someone who has other men on her mind.  What’s interesting about it is the fact that this song isn’t sad, though.  Rather than sitting around, feeling sorry that he isn’t up to her standards, the narrator is defiant and challenges her to go out and try to find someone better.

The chorus is one of his best.  “Buy a pretty dress/Wear it out tonight/For anyone you think could outdo me/Oh, better still/Be my winding wheel” truly says it all.  But, to be honest with you, I don’t know what a “winding wheel” could be.  I mean, I guess every wheel winds…  I just don’t really understand the words in the line.  I completely get what he’s saying, but the term just doesn’t really click with me.  I feel like this song is the highlight of his folkier material, and I’m surprised it isn’t a regular in his setlists.

Starlite Diner February 21, 2009

This is another track I would say is one of my favorites off of 29.  I really enjoy how casual the lyrics sound sometimes, especially “Is it possible to love someone too much?/You bet…”  But while the song is able to have lines that seem like that’s how they would be said in conversation, there are others that are among some of the most poetic lyrics Ryan Adams has ever written.  (“Haven’t woken up at night, my love/And dreamt that you called them all/Every person that you can never love”)

This song, along with many of his other piano pieces, took a while for me to get into.  I think a big part of that is the fact that I became a fan because of his alt-country work, and these slower songs don’t really fit that category too well.  But, of course, the same can be said for the majority of the songs found on Rock n Roll and Love Is Hell.  And as I’ve said before, the latter is my favorite album he’s released.  That really says something about an artist, when they can bring you in and show you things (in the case, styles of music) you otherwise wouldn’t have been a fan of.

Dear Chicago February 11, 2009

I’d put this one in my top three Ryan Adams songs.  I love the heavy reverb on the guitar and vocals, the way he hammers-on the third fret of the high E string during the “I’m sorry about the every kiss” part…  I just feel this recording perfectly captured the moment.  Everything about it is so open and empty, it’s stirring to hear it.  Just the way he sounds weak when he’s admitting all of these things to someone who has left him is enough to move you.  And you get the impression that she either:

A) Isn’t listening
or
B) Isn’t there at all

He tries to make it sound like he’s moving on, seeing other girls, etc.  But eventually just gives in and admits to her that he’s been thinking about suicide and how desperate he really is.  Of course, at the end he goes back to being defensive by saying “I think I’m falling out of love with you.”  Whether or not he really means it is up for debate, though. 

Such a brilliant, haunting song…

Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains) January 19, 2009

This is one song that I feel like I can’t get enough of…  Really, there’s just something about those short songs that always leaves you hanging.  Wilco’s “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard” is the same way for me, as is “Girlfriend in a Coma” by The Smiths.  As a songwriter, I’ve written a lot of things that feel complete when they’re only two minutes long, and it actually takes effort to know when to stop.  You always want to add a bridge section…  Or another verse…  Or another chorus… 

“Damn, Sam” is really bare and vulnerable, too.  For some reason, he’s got a thing for girls who just aren’t right.  Maybe he goes to these troubled women thinking he’ll be able to make things better for them and fix everything.  Of course, it’s not that simple.  However, while that’s a possibility, there’s another that’s just as likely.  His life is a very unhappy one, and he finds it hard to relate to people experiencing success and good times.  He really hits it off with women who are also down on their luck, and he’s openly admitting it. 

Really, the song is kind of funny in a way and sad in another.  It’s really odd to think of someone who sees a woman’s sadness as a turn-on.  Really, I think that says a lot about the narrator…

Anybody Wanna Take Me Home? January 3, 2009

There’s something that’s really nice about this dysfunctional song.  It stumbles along with a nice right guitar part Peter Buck would be proud of and lyrics that are bratty, desperate and shameful.  “Anybody Wanna Take Me Home?” is the perfect for this point in Ryan Adams’ life.  That’s probably why it was featured on both Rock n Roll and Love Is Hell.  While the albums are pretty different, this song fits remarkably well with each set of songs.

The first line sets up the story perfectly: “I am in the twilight of my youth/Not that I’m going to remember.”  The narrator is at that age where he anything in the world is possible.  While this should be a good time, he’s just wasting it by drinking himself into a stupor (or a coma, as the lyrics say).  Besides the fact that he’s just wasting opportunities, he sees everyone else around him having a great time.  (“They seem happy/But I am sad/I’m still dancing in the coma of the drinks I just had”) 

Life just isn’t doing it for him anymore.  That’s why he asks for someone to “recommend an education or drugs/Because I’m bored with you already.”  He needs something to fill that open time so he can’t be self-destructive.  Maybe if he’s with someone, he won’t be dangerous to himself while he’s alone?  That’s why he’s desperately calling out: “Does anybody wanna take me home?/Take me to your house and I’ll leave you alone”

Now, if that line looks a little familiar (besides this song), it’s because a very similar lyric is featured in the song “Two” on 2007’s Easy Tiger.  “If you take me back/Back to your place/I’ll try not to bother you”  Just an interesting observation…

My Blue Manhattan December 25, 2008

It’s pretty easy to realize that Ryan Adams likes to use cities instead of names in his songs.  Two of his most well-known songs feature this technique of his: “Dear Chicago” and “New York, New York.”  I’ve always imagined that “My Blue Manhattan” was another song about the subject of “New York, New York.” 

The girl is the same as she was in “New York, New York.”  She’s got her problems, but there are still a lot of endearing qualities.  This song tends to focus on some of her more negative characteristics.  Here are some examples:

“She’s angry like a child”
“It’s you against me most days”
“She cusses like a sailor”

While she has her flaws, he still finds her to be pleasant.  The romantic winter imagery from the third verse in “New York, New York” makes a return in this song, which furthers my belief that it’s about the same person.  I particularly like the line “Making snow angels in the gravel and the dirt.”  It manages to be beautiful and gritty, much like New York City…  (Much like the girl in the song!) 

I think this song is about the other side of the girl.  There are times when she’s a little rude and crude, but she’s still the same person he loves.  Really, there isn’t anything about her that we can’t relate to.  We can all be standoffish sometimes…  We can all cuss like sailors…  But we’re still just as good as everyone else in this world.  This girl may have a bit of an attitude sometimes, but even when she’s in a bad mood, it’s nice to have her around.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Firecracker December 22, 2008

Long-term relationships are overrated.  Seriously…  You put all of that time and effort into it only to have your heart broken, right?  So it’s only natural to want something that’ll only last a little while.  You know, something that will let you “burn up hard and bright.” 

“Firecracker” is all about when you reach that point where you decide that maybe all you want is something quick and physical.  Sure, you like and respect the person, but you aren’t interested in a full-blown relationship.  “I just wanna be your firecracker/And maybe be your baby tonight” makes it clear: he isn’t really sure that he wants to be yours.  He just wants to have a good time tonight.  That’s all!

The lyrics are full of steamy imagery like  “Kiss me, slowly, softly/Make me dream of you.”  And then at the end when he says he’s “gonna ride that plane ’til it hits the ground”, who knows what he means?  I can think of a few things…