Saturday, October 22, 2005
and the birds all singin' blue

So, in what may become something fairly regular here (on weekends, when news is slow), I've decided to blog about some of my absolute favourite songs. This was actually going to be a column idea for a paper I write for at school, but I'm terrible with word limits. Plus, I can post the mp3 here. This particular piece was already written with the intention of submitting to the paper, hence the reference to "print." Yes, I realize this is totally biting on Stylus' Perfect Moments in Pop, but what can you do?

One Song: Perfect Songs for an Imperfect World
download: Ryan Adams - Call Me On Your Way Back Home

This is my favourite song ever. I hate to admit something like this in print, but I listen to this whenever I break up with someone, which is embarrassingly often. On the surface there is nothing particularly special about it. Guys with guitars and softened southern drawls have been writing about heartbreak for years. Ryan has made a bit of a career out of it himself. This is his finest moment though. In fact, it's about as fine a moment as you'll find in music.

There's the production; how you can hear him exhale before the first line, exactly like the way you exhale before you finally break bad news to someone. It's how you exhale as you reflect on a bad hangover and a head full of alcohol damaged memories of brand new mistakes. His voice, simultaneously hushed and forceful, haunts its way over a lone battered guitar, while strings creep in and out. And those strings... I was never a huge fan of string arrangements - they're a lazy way to force grandiose emotion into something - and these ones could have killed this recording. They're too perfect sounding, all cold and sterile. But, during the main part of the song, they're just restrained enough, and at the end when they swell up they ground the clumsy imperfection of the harmonica, itself weeping uncontrollably... if an instrument could. It's the moment just before that is the kicker though; that final set of vocal lines.

"Yeah I just wanna die without you. Without you, honey, I ain't nothin' new"

And, you can almost see the handful of pills and the bottle of cheap wine.

now playing: Saturday Looks Good To Me - If You Ask

Labels: ,


1 Comments:

i first heard this song on the last mix-tape you did. i immediately had to listen to it again and again.. what a powerful song - thanks for the intro.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:30 a.m.  

Post a Comment

contests

music

upcoming shows
2/8 Twin Sister, Eleanor Friedberger, and Ava Luna @ the Media Club
2/9 David Choi @ the Rio
2/10 Secret Chiefs 3 and Dengue Fever @ the Rickshaw
2/13 White Buffalo @ the Media Club
2/14 The Ballyntines and Pleasure Cruise (TT) @ the Biltmore
2/18 Grimes w/Born Gold @ Fortune (early)
2/18 Cruel Young Heart, Young Liars, the Oh Wells, and Matiation @ the Dodson Rooms (AA)
2/18 Cursive w/UME @the Media Club
2/19 The Asteroids Galaxy Tour w/Vacationer @ Venue
2/20 Veronica Falls w/Bleached @ the Media Club
2/26 DJ Krush @ Fortune
2/29 Trevor Hall @ the Media Club
3/6 Slow Club w/Signals @ the Media Club
3/7 Cloud Nothings w/Mr. Dream @ the Media Clubr
3/8 Islands @ the Rio
3/10 Memoryhouse @ the Waldorf
3/17 William Fitzsimmons @ the Biltmore (early)
3/18 Magnetic Fields @ the Vogue (AA)
3/21 Plants & Animals>/b> @ the Rickshaw
3/22 Drive-by Truckers @ the Commodore
3/23 White Rabbits @ the Biltmore
3/23 Loney Dear @ the Media Club
3/24 Sharon Van Etten and the War on Drugs @ the Biltmore (early)
3/25 Nada Surf and An Horse @ the Rickshaw
3/27 The Ting Tings @ the Commodore
4/5 House de Racket @ the Electric Owl
4/6 Chairlift w/Nite Jewel @ the Electric Owl
4/7 Heartless Bastards @ the Media Club
4/8 Metronomy @ Venue
4/8 Gotye @ the Vogue (AA)
4/9 Cults @ Venue
4/10 First Aid Kit @ Venue
4/10 Andrew Bird w/Laura Marling @ the Vogue (AA)
4/13 The Odds and the Grapes of Wrath @ the Rickshaw
4/14 The Joel Plaskett Emergency @ the Vogue (AA)
4/24 School of Seven Bells w/Exitmusic @ the Electric Owl
4/26 Justice @ the PNE Forum (AA)
4/27 M83 @ the Vogue (AA)
4/27 Yukon Blonde @ the Commodore
4/28 Neon Indian @ Venue (early)
5/6 Delta Spirit w/Waters @ the Electric Owl
5/9 Yann Tiersen @ the Rickshaw
5/11 Great Lake Swimmers w/Cold Specks @ the Commodore
5/12 The Boxer Rebellion> @ the Biltmore
5/27 Coeur de Pirate @ Venue

legend:
AA = all ages
DG = @damaged goods
DFTK = @dirty for the kids
FJW = @fake jazz wed
EN = @easy now
GD = @glory days
HL = @higher learning JH = @junior high
JY= @junkyard
RRPP = @rocknroll pizza party
SD = @shindig
TT = @toonie tuesday
NW = @no worries

more shows
shindig
the biltmore
fortune
pat's
the railway
the red room
venue

club action
culture club
damaged goods
east van soul club
glory days
ice cream social
no more strangers
re-up
wild zero

local favourites

mostly music
a day in the life of...
a reminder
chipped hip
deftone
duncan's donuts
expressway to my skull
goodnight neverland
guttersnipe
hero hill
the indie files
my indie world
radio zero
the skinny
vanmega
weird pop vancouver
winnie cooper

consume
dandelion
red cat
scratch
zulu

formed a band
the abramson singers
basketball
bison
black mountain
brasstronaut
the clips
destroyer
fine mist
jpndrds
koban
ladyhawk
mt-40
no gold
nu sensae
twin crystals
white lung

dj kicks
betti forde
cam dales
dg djs
expendable youth
john cougar
my!gay!husband!
paul devro

everything else
beyond robson
chez nous presents
citr
cjsf
ion
linds & nicola
only
ryan walter wagner
safe amplification site society
scout
swak
the straight
timbre
twee death
urban diner
vancouver is awesome
vanity presents

everywhere else

blogs
b(oot)log
brooklyn vegan
catbirdseat
catchdubs
chromewaves
cliptip
copy, right
discobelle
feed your habit
fluokids
fluxblog
for the 'records'
good weather for airstrikes
gorilla vs. bear
i am fuel, you are friends
i (heart) music
largehearted boy
macleans
mad decent
marathonpacks
mcnutt against the music
more cowbell
music (for robots)
my old kentucky blog
the outernet
palms out sounds
pop (all love)
popsheep
rock, paper, pixels
ryspace
said the gramophone
soul sides
stereogum
songs: illinois
swedesplease
ttiktda
weird canada

you ain't no picasso
zoilus

sites
buddyhead
cbc radio 3
coke machine glow
daytrotter
glorious noise
pitchfork
schedule two
stylus
tiny mixtapes

scribbles
chart
color
discorder
exclaim!

interact
email
last.fm
twitter

history

on repeat
i'll make you a tape
one song
promo pile

previous posts
i will never see the sun
desormais
everybody get random
call and response
we want the death of rock n' roll
...and stay for breakfast
you are free
when we arrived we were ripping high
pull up the people
i guess that's how the future's done

archives

mp3s are for preview purposes, if you like what you hear, buy it at your favourite indie record store. please don't direct link to photos. click for more.

writing by Quinn
unless noted

orig. design by gerald`


Powered by Blogger

Firefox 2