Jessie
Click to viewI was listening to this song earlier. It's by Joshua Kaddison and is sort of the sequel to his awesome and unmatchable Jessie.
I'm undecided whether I like this song or not. I mean, as a song it obviously isn't nearly as good as 'Jessie', but my ambivalence is about more than that.
Part of what makes Jessie so amazing as a song, I think, is that it is ambiguous. It's about a guy talking about the girl he's not quite over, the girl he wants back, but knows the odds are against it, after all they've been through. And yet there's still that hope. The song ends on that hope - 'and who knows, maybe this time things will turn out just the way you planned'.
And we've all been there, right? God knows I have. I've had that moment of knowing that the odds are really freaking well not in my favour, but damnit, I want to believe. I've had the ex I'm not over, the hopes and dreams still lingering. And when I hear 'Jessie', I get that feeling again which says that logically there is no chance in hell that they will make it to Mexico, but you keep listening because there's still the hope.
Now, the follow up song in some ways makes me happy. It gives the listening a happy ending. It's the story of the singer of 'Jessie' lying in bed with Jessie. And yeah, they never made it to Mexico, but they did make it together. They beat those odds.
That's lovely, but I don't know that I think it's nearly as powerful as the ambiguity of the original, and I kinda feel that it almost detracts from it. A song about a crazy hope is far more potent than a song about a guy deciding to rebuild his relationship, especially once you know, as a listener, that things will work out in the end.
It's not about the moment, the hope, the leap into the dark.
It gives 'Jessie' a road map, and that isn't nearly as artistically effective.
What do you guys think?