From Instant Nostalgia
Seth Timbs’ return to Tennessee in 2004 was followed by a long series of solo appearances in Nashville and Murfreesboro, sometimes even opening up with a solo set before bringing out the full band to play with him. With these came playing more than one of the Nashville staple, “songwriters’ night,” in which all aspiring songwriters, for better or for worse, gather with their acoustic guitars and play songs about being songwriters. And although this song didn’t appear in Fluid Ounces sets until 2005, I am almost sure that its inspiration came from the writers’ nights from 2004.
In it, we meet a man, yes indeed a grown man, whose lip quivers as he hears one songwriter’s tune one at a “piss-swillin’ bar.” The song touches on our need to hear heart-wrenchingly sad songs, especially while we are at our most vulnerable after a relationship’s end, finding comfort in having our “insides twisted apart” by others’ similarly sad stories, even if they’ll deny it and say that it’s just something in their eyes.
The song even offers its own glimpse of such a sad affair, the best as it reaches its climax,
“And we had big plans to get married
Sweet lady and I
Build a house on the mountain
Sit around and get high.”
This third waltz on the record was intentionally placed on Instant Nostalgia as a continuation of “Private Hell.” The recorded version features a great swirling synth in its epic bridge, but I think my favorite performance of this song is from December 9, 2005, available here for download. Pay attention to the piano work during the second half as well as the way that Tha B’s backing vocals seem to snuggle up to Seth’s vocals to perfectly accentuate certain words and phrases throughout the song.
Download Live mp3
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
i think i'm most happy with the way this one came out on the record. You should note too that live, this is one that Seth doesn't play 'piano' on... he uses his 'Paul Simon' keyboard setting like a ethereal bed for the song.
you also didn't mention the 'wish you were here' beginning to the recording. total rip-off... ;-)
tha b.
yeah, the album version is the definitive. i got this on a five-song sampler of the record during the recording stage from seth and it was my favorite out of what was there. lovely, strange little song, and evidence that fluid ounces could still have plenty new brave frontiers to explore.
this song always seemed to come and go, especially if the band was playing a shorter set. I always enjoyed it presence. a nice addition to the Ounces catalog!
Post a Comment