ever hear an album – and maybe it’s an album you’ve owned and loved for years – and suddenly one day you listen to the lyrics and you think ‘my god, he’s singing about me. that’s my life, right now!’ and then the next song more of the same, the same sweep of emotions you’re going through. and the whole album is you as you are in that moment?
that happens to me from time to time. i guess sometimes i really don’t understand or fully appreciate the emotion of a song (or painting or film or novel or comic book) until i can relate to it.
today it was josh rouse’s nashville. i’ve played that album a lot since i got it upon release a few years ago, and i even sang along to some of the livelier tracks when driving alone in the car (back when i had a car), but it wasn’t until today that i “heard” the lyrics to one song and read between the lines to what he was saying. he must have been in a pretty pissy place when writing those songs (and having interviewed rouse a few times for a music magazine a lot of things clicked into place), a place not unlike the emotional space i’ve been occupying the past six months.
anyway, if any of you know josh and see him on the street or anything (he lives in spain now, i hear), say thanks from bearhat.
mojo used to have a column called ‘last night a record saved my life’. that might be overstating it a little, saving my life. i won’t resort to melodrama. but it’s nice to know at a time when you think no one can possibly feel how you feel, that someone else feels it, gets it, hurts it… and damned if he didn’t write an album about it too.
robotsdream, 4 months ago
yeah, i can relate! Nick Drake has saved many times, Tindersticks too. There’s an album for every mood. And being a moody person, i have a lot of albums!
Davina, 4 months ago
I always fall back on Sublime when Im feeling particularly shitty. To me, theres no greater blues than that of Sublime. “We’ve got a brand new dance, its called ‘we got to overcome’. Gotten me through lots of hard times. Thanks for writing.
bearhat in reply to robotsdream’s comment, 4 months ago
drake’s pink moon, oh yes! helped me a lot too, when needed. it’s strange, people are always saying nick drake was such a melancholy soul, that his music is so sad. but like i respond, sad perhaps, but that doesn’t make it depressing. not to me. often sad things, fragile things are the most beautiful, and can be incredibly uplifting. besides, for me, the best music always has a touch of melancholy.
oh, and tindersticks! you’ve got good taste. curtains is a fave.
bearhat in reply to Davina’s comment, 4 months ago
thanks for the comment. i’m not familiar with sublime, but i like the sentiment.
for me, tonight’s soundtrack is provided by elvis costello.
robotsdream, 4 months ago
ah yes, Curtains is a great album. I saw Tindersticks when they toured Australia for the first time ever back in 2002. I was so overwhelmed to finally see them live after listening to them for years, i shed a tear. One of the best concerts ever!
Best most recent concert was Built to Spill.
I agree, the best music has a melancholy hue. I think it’s because it touches your heart, not your head or your hips.
And i DO have great taste in music! It’s my one big passion equal to being creative.