She & Him "Never Wanted Your Love"

Aaaaaannnnnnd . . . right on cue . . .

Last week I was struggling with that first-quarter-of-the-year issue of having lots of great songs, but few familiar voices to keep a good mvy-like balance to our playlist.

While we had plenty of holes in the playlist to fill, I resisted the urge to load it up with unfamiliar voices, knowing that I would be rewarded with patience.

No sooner had a reported my playlist to the trades on Monday morning (including new Adds from fairly familiar voices JJ Grey and Billy Bragg), then we received:

a)  A "for your ears only" private link to hear Lori McKenna's new album in full, which will be here in a few weeks

b)  Patty Griffin's first new single in 5 years, "Ohio," featuring Robert Plant.

c)  The new She & Him track from the forthcoming "Volume 3"

Playlist problem solved.  Balance restored.



Hear the song on Youtube.

Lori McKenna "You Get A Love Song"

It has not been the smoothest summer for the Finns.

We had a serious financial hiccup at the beginning of the summer, that resulted in my wife, the teacher, NOT being able to have the summer fully off.  Which wouldn't be a big deal, accept that we had to scramble from week to week for daycare options for our kids, to cover those times when she worked.  Again, not a huge deal, but you parents know what it's like when you have to juggle, shuttle and otherwise disrupt.

But we're 10 days away from her going back to school, and from receiving her first paycheck of the school year.  We just about made it through the summer.

Yesterday, I stood in the driveway as the tow truck lifted our Honda onto its back and rolled our old car away.

For the last couple of weeks, the muffler has been loose and when I go down the road, it sounds like an aircraft carrier is coming.  But I knew it wasn't really dangerous to drive and we'd get it fixed in 2 weeks.

Then the starter died.  Well, at least it doesn't sound horrible---it doesn't make ANY sound and it can't go anywhere.

So we are down to one car until we can figure out what to do.  And again, there are people who have problems far worse than this, so with a little perspective (and a nearing-maxed-out credit card) we'll get through this too.

It's our seventh anniversary on Monday.

Tabitha pointed out that a lot of marriages crash and burn at the 7th year.  So we, despite the stress, were doing okay if we've made it this far.

We had been planning an overnight, sans kids, with dinner in a real restaurant, as an anniversary present to ourselves.  I'm not sure if we can pull that off now.

It made me think of this song.

You go through so much on a day to day basis with your partner, and not that you expect it, but no one ever tells the two of you "Good job!" or otherwise recognizes what a laborious task it can be to make it all work.

While our problems aren't fully analogous to the characters in the song (no drinking problems, fortunately!), I'm really glad that someone wrote a acknowledgement to the idea that "the only thing harder than letting go, is holding on."

It's an achievement worth celebrating.


See the video on Youtube.

Lori McKenna "I Know You"

I did this interview with author Sandra Boynton, who writes and illustrates children's books, and I asked her if her family and friends ever had this moment of discovery where they looked at one of her characters and said:

"Hey, I think that cow is me?!?"

She laughed, and pointed out that her renderings were generally benign, so folks in her life didn't mind if they were portrayed as a Pig or a Goose or a Chicken.

It must be a little harder, and weirder, if you're a songwriter and your lyrics aren't benign.

If you write incisive or sad or angry lyrics, that you record and put out to the world, are your family and friends wondering if those cutting remarks are about themselves? It must be especially true if you use a little of your real life as a starting point.

You know, you start a song about a break-up, using a line from a recent argument you had with your spouse. But because you are a storyteller, the characters in the song take the argument to deeper, more hurtful places and the story ends with the characters splitting.

Does your spouse then worry that your little spat about cleaning the coffeemaker has really led you to consider divorce?

Hopefully, your spouse understands your creative process. But how about your mother-in-law?

Since being in the room for this interview*, I have always wished I could've been a fly on the wall, the first time Lori McKenna's husband's Mom heard this tune.

Lori describes "I Know You" as a list of bragging rights she has about her husband, as she reels off all of the little details that have accumulated through years of marriage. And no doubt, many, if not all of the details are about her real life husband. Then the song makes mention of the husband's mother and her wooden spoon and her tattoo.

I get the hugest kick hearing Lori crack up at the end of the song---which was pretty new at the time of the interview---realizing that her mother-in-law would probably hear this song and blanch at the way she was portrayed.

Awkward next family get together!


See the video on Youtube.

* She introduces the song around the 15:45 minute mark.

Lori McKenna "Leaving This Life"

Despite what you might have gleaned from previous posts, I actually don't cry at songs all that often.

And if I do, it's because:

a) I associate the song with a particular time and place that's sad. Maybe was a song an old girlfriend and I used to listen to, or was a tune that my late sister loved.

Or b) I find something familiar and personal in the lyrics, that touches an emotional chord that is real to me, like the tunes mentioned in those previous posts.

What's extremely rare, is for me to hear a song on the radio, a song I've never heard before, and find myself sobbing.

I was in the car, driving up the Woods Hole Road away from the Steamship Authority, flipping through the radio dial. (Hey, just because I work for mvy, doesn't mean I can't listen to what other stations are doing)

I recognized the voice in a few lines, as Lori McKenna. But it wasn't a track that I was familiar with.

Lori lost her Mom when she was just a child. I didn't know that at the time I heard the song, but I didn't really need to have anyone tell me. The lyrics are just so unbelievably real and raw, how could you not connect to it on a powerful level?

It really was breathtaking, to have something that I had never heard before, and had no association with, hit me so hard. And that's when you know, the writer is doing something right.