at the christmas party hop
Today, I introduced my friend to both Mumford & Sons Sigh No More and Ryan Adams's heartbreaker. She knew a bunch of Mumford & Sons (Bham Mountain Radio play them with something approaching regularity) but the only thing she knew of Ryan Adams was his newer stuff.
While she liked them both, she loved Mumford & Sons and was sort-of lukewarm on Ryan. And though I still love her, we might not be able to be friends anymore. *g*
I still, after more than a decade, love heartbreaker beyond the telling. It is transcendent to me.
I was out this evening, listening to it at top volume, and I love almost every note on it. The argument at the beginning and the hopelessness of 'Amy' and the absolute gorgeousness of him and Emmylou on 'Oh, My Sweet Carolina' and his little sigh before 'Call Me On Your Way Back Home' and 'oh, Cinderella, all dressed up with all your boots and all your charm' and 'boots all dirty and sexy and thin' and then, oh then, the entirety of 'In My Time of Need.'
It was during the listen tonight that I think I might have figured it out.
I have always loved 'In My Time of Need', but listening to it tonight (crying, by the way. Seriously. Snotty, tears running down my face CRYING), it struck me - that was my mom's family. Dirt-poor farmers, that worked their hands to bleed because they had mouths to feed. And fifteen dollars hid above the stove.
I always tell the funny 'my grandparent's met when my granddad was her student' story, but never the other stuff. They scraped by and worked SO hard their entire lives, just to put food on the table and give their kids what they needed. They had one of those Sears homes from WWII, but they kept it up and added on bits when they could and it is still lived in today by my aunt and cousin. It's that house that my grandmother still remembers even though she can't remember my mother anymore and why she still gets up every day and puts my grandfather's wedding ring around her neck.
My mother got out as soon as she possibly could and I've lived in a lot of different places but that dirt road in southern Virginia will be home to a part of me.
And, for some reason, heartbreaker reminds me of that.
I don't know why. I can't explain it. But that's why that is the one album you would have to pry out of my cold, dead hands before I'd give it up.
Edited to say - I really shouldn't be allowed to go on websites with shoes. I totally just bought these. Because that's what I needed to do tonight.
But. Jesus. Look at them! They're so hot! And they had my size!
While she liked them both, she loved Mumford & Sons and was sort-of lukewarm on Ryan. And though I still love her, we might not be able to be friends anymore. *g*
I still, after more than a decade, love heartbreaker beyond the telling. It is transcendent to me.
I was out this evening, listening to it at top volume, and I love almost every note on it. The argument at the beginning and the hopelessness of 'Amy' and the absolute gorgeousness of him and Emmylou on 'Oh, My Sweet Carolina' and his little sigh before 'Call Me On Your Way Back Home' and 'oh, Cinderella, all dressed up with all your boots and all your charm' and 'boots all dirty and sexy and thin' and then, oh then, the entirety of 'In My Time of Need.'
It was during the listen tonight that I think I might have figured it out.
I have always loved 'In My Time of Need', but listening to it tonight (crying, by the way. Seriously. Snotty, tears running down my face CRYING), it struck me - that was my mom's family. Dirt-poor farmers, that worked their hands to bleed because they had mouths to feed. And fifteen dollars hid above the stove.
I always tell the funny 'my grandparent's met when my granddad was her student' story, but never the other stuff. They scraped by and worked SO hard their entire lives, just to put food on the table and give their kids what they needed. They had one of those Sears homes from WWII, but they kept it up and added on bits when they could and it is still lived in today by my aunt and cousin. It's that house that my grandmother still remembers even though she can't remember my mother anymore and why she still gets up every day and puts my grandfather's wedding ring around her neck.
My mother got out as soon as she possibly could and I've lived in a lot of different places but that dirt road in southern Virginia will be home to a part of me.
And, for some reason, heartbreaker reminds me of that.
I don't know why. I can't explain it. But that's why that is the one album you would have to pry out of my cold, dead hands before I'd give it up.
Edited to say - I really shouldn't be allowed to go on websites with shoes. I totally just bought these. Because that's what I needed to do tonight.
But. Jesus. Look at them! They're so hot! And they had my size!