“So this is the new year And I don’t feel any different” And so the song begins, lamenting the lack of real change despite all the festivities. Can you relate? We humans create structures out of nothing, and time is one of them. A year is just a unit we …
Patty Griffin’s “Chief” is a portrait of someone who’s lived his life wishing he was doing something else. It really gets to me in that bridge section when she unleashes the full extent of the character’s yearning: Well I wish that you could see me when I’m flying in my …
Famously, R.E.M. never explained their lyrics — so of course, what I’m about to say is not their message, but my agenda, my propaganda, my secret scheme to use whatever music as an empowerment tool for people making changes in their lives for the better. This song comes across to …
“Either Way” is an achingly melancholic song about the complex emotions we feel from watching someone who’s “almost kind.” It captures that moment when you witness a glimpse of hope, of a piece of kindness seen in someone who is generally perceived as unkind. It’s easy for us to jump to conclusions …
“Californication” is an astute observation on the false hope that is offered by reducing and caricaturizing reality to a tiny and shiny sliver of it. And while it’s easy to blame the media for that manipulation, we have to admit that we the consumer is empowering them to do so, …