Filed under: Mermaid Avenue | Tags: Another Man's Done Gone, Folk, Mermaid Ave., Mermaid Avenue, Nora Guthrie, Piano, simple, Wilco, Woody Guthrie
I feel like this song should have been the final track on the album. I guess I can understand why it wasn’t, since it’s so sad and slow (and really short). But I like the idea of the album closing on a quieter note than it started. Mermaid Avenue is a journey the listener takes from “Walt Whitman’s Niece” to “Hoodoo Voodoo” to “Another Man’s Done Gone.” There’s so much ground covered, it’s one of Wilco’s most impressive accomplishments. They worked on lyrics they didn’t know that much about, and it’s not like they could ask the author to clarify anything for them…
This song benefits from the simplicity the band applied to it. Yes, I really like it when they modernize the music to with the old lyrics (proof that they’re timeless), but these songs were never made for complex music. This lone piano is able to express more than any wall of guitars, synths and mellotrons could.
Filed under: Mermaid Avenue | Tags: Acoustic, Billy Bragg, Country, Folk, Hesitating Beauty, Man in the Sand, Mermaid Avenue, Nora Guthrie, Rock, Wilco, Woody Guthrie
While I appreciate Mermaid Avenue, Vol II for the different direction the band took Woody Guthrie’s songs in, there’s something about the classic folk sound on the first collection that I find hard to resist. While there are songs that have become Wilco classics, such as “California Stars”, there are a quite a few that often get looked over. Somewhere between those forgotten songs and the classics is “Hesitating Beauty.” It’s got a really nice bounce to it and, in my opinion, is one of the strongest songs to come out of the project.
I’d also say that this song has one of my favorite opening lines of all time. There isn’t much that compares with “For your sparkling, cocky smile/I’ve walked a million miles/Begging you to come and wed me in the spring.” As I’ve mentioned before, I wasn’t too familiar with Woody Guthrie’s songwriting before this album. I’m really glad I was able to hear these songs, though. I had no idea he had such a great since of humor, and I now have a whole new sense of respect for the man.
Filed under: Mermaid Avenue | Tags: Alternative, At My Window Sad And Lonely, Billy Bragg, Country, Folk, Jeff Tweedy, Mermaid Avenue, Nora Guthrie, Rock, Wilco, Woody Guthrie
This is one of those songs I always catch myself forgetting about until I listen to Mermaid Avenue straight through. It’s impossible to let “California Stars” or “Hoodoo Voodoo” slip your mind, but this one just never seems to stick. The funny thing is, every time I hear it, I have the same reaction. I always forget just how enjoyable of a song this is, with absolutely timeless lyrics. The music is impressive, too. I feel like this is exactly what Nora Guthrie was hoping to hear when she handed over her father’s lyrics. There’s that classic folk sound combined with a 1990s modern rock edge, creating a sound that’s distinctive to this album.
While Billy Bragg got some anthem songs (“I Guess I Planted”) and some really pretty numbers, it seems like Wilco got the sad ones. Sure, they have stompers like “Christ For President” and “Hoodoo Voodoo”, but then there’s “One By One”, “Another Man’s Done Gone” and today’s song. Maybe that’s just because Jeff Tweedy is really good at sounding sad… Just a thought…
Part of me wishes this song would have been on Mermaid Avenue, Vo. II so we could hear a much more modern take on the lyrics. It seems like the band was too cautious on the first album, but really got comfortable with the songs on the follow-up. It’s still a great listen, but “At My Window Sad And Lonely” would sound even better with an updated, Summerteeth-y treatment.
Filed under: Mermaid Avenue | Tags: Acoustic, Billy Bragg, California Stars, Country, Delivery, DVD, Folk, Jeff Tweedy, Kicking Television, Live, Man in the Sand, Mermaid Ave., Mermaid Avenue, Nora Guthrie, Solo, Wilco, Woody Guthrie
The songs from the Mermaid Avenue albums don’t get the attention they deserve when it comes to Wilco’s live shows. I guess it’s understandable, since they aren’t original songs. Still, if there’s one song that the band has successfully made its own, it would have to be “California Stars.”
I can remember talking to a girl who sat by me in high school about music when Wilco came up. I asked if she was a fan, and she said she only knew one of their songs. I expected “Jesus, Etc.” or “Heavy Metal Drummer”, but was shocked when she said “California Stars.” I guess it had been used in some TV show she watched, and she had never listened to anything else by the band. I made a few suggestions about where to start, but she wasn’t too interested…
This was the first song on the album that truly grabbed me. It managed to say so much while keeping it pleasantly simple. On the Man In The Sand DVD, I found the early version of the song interesting. The delivery and phrasing of the song was slightly different and wasn’t quite as smooth as the final take. The music is nice in that it manages to capture an old folk feel while sounding modern at the same time.
Filed under: Mermaid Avenue | Tags: Billy Bragg, Driving, Fog, Memory, Mermaid Ave., Mermaid Avenue, One by One, Wilco, Woody Guthrie
I have a really fond memory of this song… I was playing a set of Christmas songs a few Decembers ago, and had grown completely sick of listening to holiday music. On the ride to the place where I was performing, my friends and I hit what is, without a doubt, the worst fog I’ve ever driven in. Sure enough, I was listening to Mermaid Avenue I drove. Because of the low light and easy-going music, both of my friends fell asleep as I missed the turn again and again and again and again…
The song is a somber reflection on the passing of time. It isn’t unlike “Older” by They Might Be Giants. That song puts it less eloquently: “You’re older than you’ve ever been/And now you’re even older/And now you’re even older/You’re older than you’ve ever been/And now you’re even older/And now you’re older still.” Woody Guthrie managed to use a lot of really pleasant imagery that makes the passing of time a romantic thing. It doesn’t only look at the end of someone’s life, but also the end of a relationship. It begins with the narrator tearfully writing a letter to someone and ends with him joining that person forever. When you die, there are people you inevitably leave behind. But there’s that hope that, in the end, you’ll get to spend eternity with them after you die…
Such a nice song…
Filed under: Mermaid Avenue | Tags: Billy Bragg, Billy Joel, Blog, Hoodoo Voodoo, Jeff Tweedy, Man in the Sand, Mermaid Avenue, R.E.M., Tea Kettle Yell, Wilco, Woody Guthrie
Another song from the Mermaid Avenue projects…
I can’t begin to interpret this song, since the lyrics come across as mostly nonsensical. The way the words come at you rapidly and consistently brings to mind late eighties songs like “It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M. and “We Didn’t Start The Fire” by Billy Joel. (For a fun read, see: http://cdshook.wordpress.com/2008/12/04/we-didn%e2%80%99t-start-the-end-of-the-fire-as-we-know-it/ ) Of course, however, this song was written decades before those two and was released almost ten years later. However, it can still be in the “barrage of lyrics” club with them…
If anything, I think the song is about that feeling at the beginning of a relationship where you’re both smitten and stupid with each other. There’s all of the baby talking and the narrator asking someone to “kissle me now” and “huggle me close.” Lyrics like “I’ll be yours/You’ll be mine” really make it sound like this is the case, but there are too many random lines about ponies on tin cans and pictures on bricky walls for anyone to be sure. One highlight of this song is a singing version of what one reader has described as the “tea kettle yell” that Jeff Tweedy is a big fan of. Lines like “Brush my hair/kissle me some more” just wouldn’t sound right if they weren’t being screeched out…
My personal favorite “tea kettle yell” moment was at Lollapalooza this year when Jeff was playing his solo set and attempted the line I just mentioned. He started it before stopping abruptly and commenting (with a smile on his face) “Not gonna happen, guys…”
Filed under: Mermaid Avenue | Tags: Billy Bragg, Christ, Christ For President, Folk, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Mermaid Avenue, President, Wilco, Woody Guthrie
My main memory of this song is one time when I was supposed to be playing Christmas songs and did this instead. I figured the whole Christ thing was cool, you know? I don’t think everyone else got it, though…
This is part of the Mermaid Avenue project Wilco did with Billy Bragg (and Natalie Merchant). Essentially, they took leftover Woody Guthrie’s lyrics and put music to them. This song is about how they can “beat the crooked politician men”, and claiming he would provide “a job and a pension for young and old.” Of course, this song isn’t exactly from happy times, and this is reflected in the last verse:
“Every year we waste enough to feed the ones who starve/We build our civilization up/Then we shoot it down with wars”
This song, like all of the Mermaid Avenue tracks I’ll be covering, has Jeff Tweedy on lead vocals. His voice sounds strained, but not intentionally. (He seems to have this love for writing songs with notes he can’t hit) You would think that might make the song a little tough to listen to, but you’re wrong. It’s like Love Is Hell/lloR dna kcoR-era Ryan Adams, where it provides a charming quality to the already amazingly written songs. Interestingly, this song is played in a key somewhere a little sharper than A, but not Bb. Quite a few of the songs on the album are like this, probably due to tape speed.
Even if it is a strangely out-of-tune song with plunking banjos, strained vocals, and lyrics about why you should “cast your vote for the carpenter that they call the Nazerene”, it’s a really enjoyable listen with some hardcore folksy charm.
Note: www.jesuschristforpresident.com is not related to this song… I did, however find it while Googling the song, and found it interesting…
