•
Rating: With a broken heart and the label of the new Dylan (a category at some point everyone has entered, even my fruit vendor), Ryan Adams, leader of the disbanded Whiskeytown, releases "Heartbreaker", his first solo album.
Recorded in two weeks with the help of David Rawlings and Gillian Welch, the album showcases the woes of young Ryan dealing with one of many romantic disappointments. But if you're expecting a bitter album, you've got the wrong cover.
No trace of the punk-folk from some Whiskeytown tracks ("Drank Like A River" from Faithless St among all): to highlight the emotional massacre, the prodigy child uses few instruments, often just the acoustic guitar, and his voice, clear and expressive like few others: the greater the chaos, the lesser the need to shout it.
Of course, our hero does not live on spleen alone; there are indeed uptempos (otherwise, what's all that cocaine for?) like "To Be Young" (introduced by a discussion with Rawlings about Morrisey's "Bona Drag"), drunken boogie and roll meant to be sung at the subway stop while drinking whiskey and cola or "Shakedown on 9th Street", a track so Stones that it makes you suspect he might have stolen it from Keith Richards' backpack.
The real protagonists are the sweaty melancholic tracks, like the masterpiece "Oh My Sweet Carolina" where, in a duet with Emmylou Harris, he talks about his need to return home after having "gambled up my life". Or "Come Pick Me Up", a bitter reflection on a ended love that leaves trace even in the records stolen by the girl at the time, a track that bears the marks of a classic from the very first harmonica chords.
But the true heart of darkness in the album is "Call Me On Your Way Back Home", three minutes of surrender and admission of sins that ends with a harmonica tearing through veins and horizon. "To Be The One", "Amy", and "Why Do They Leave?" closely follow without ever trying to overtake.
Not a masterpiece album, but certainly a masterpiece of sincerity.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (03:04)
Young boy you done me bad I went and did ya wrong
Young boy you done me bad I went and did ya wrong
Then I got high Lord I got high and I got a bone to pick with
you
And I'm sure you know its true
Oh one day when you're looking back
You were young and man you were sad
When you're young you get sad
When your young you get sad then you get high
Oh man
Young gal you done me bad and I went and did ya wrong
Young gal you done me bad so I went and did ya wrong
Then I got high
Lord I got high
Now you got a bone to pick with me but I wish you'd let me be
Oh one day when you're looking back
You were young and man you were sad
When you're young you get sad
When your young you get sad then you get high
You get high
Oh the days the rain would fall your way
Oh the days the rain would fall your way
Then you be high cause you got sad
Cause you got sad
Oh man
03 My Winding Wheel (03:13)
Well nighttime let her through
Yeah I'm talking to you
I wanna see her
Precious little thing
With eyes that dance around without their clothes
So buy a pretty dress
Wear it out tonight
For anyone you think could out do me
Or better still be my winding wheel
Cause I feel just like a map
Without a single place to go of interest
And I'm further North than South
If I could shut my mouth shed probably like this
So buy a pretty dress
And wear it out tonight
For all the boys you think could out do me
Or better still be my winding wheel
Be my winding wheel
Well the children laugh and sing a song that ushers in her driving rain
And I'm standing in the station like some old record waiting on a train
So buy a pretty dress
Wear it out tonight
For anyone you think could out do me
Or better still be my winding wheel
Be my winding wheel
04 AMY (03:46)
I don't know why I let go
I want to be your friend
Flowers grow through my window and I love you again
Oh I love you oh
When you laid me down into your beautiful garden
Flowers in the love of my arms
Its God shining through to me I guess
Its God shining through to me I guess
I love you Amy
Do you still love me
I go to the places where we used to
I feel sad
I am out here looking for you
Sometimes I pretend
Oh I miss you oh
When you laid me down
Into your beautiful garden
Flowers and the love in my arms
Is God playing evil tricks on me
Is God playing evil tricks on me
Oh I love you Amy
Do you still love me
05 Oh My Sweet Carolina (04:57)
I went down to Houston
And I stopped in San Antone
I passed up the station for the bus
I was trying to find me something
But I wasn't sure just what
Man I ended up with pockets full of dust
So I went on to Cleveland and I ended up insane
I bought a borrowed suit and learned to dance
I was spending money like the way it likes to rain
Man I ended up with pockets full of cane
Oh my sweet Carolina
What compels me to go
Oh my sweet disposition
May you one day carry me home
I ain't never been to Vegas but I gambled up my life
Building newsprint boats I race to sewer mains
Was trying to find me something but I wasn't sure just what
Funny how they say that some things never change
Oh my sweet Carolina
What compels me to go
Oh my sweet disposition
May you one day carry me home
Up here in the city feels like things are closing in
The sunsets just my light bulb burning out
I miss Kentucky and I miss my family
All the sweetest winds they blow across the south
Oh my sweet Carolina
What compels me to go
Oh my sweet disposition
May you one day carry me home
May you one day carry me home
06 Bartering Lines (03:59)
Hold me up, hold me down
Leave me in the withering pines
Steal my love, steal my kisses
Take em to the bartering lines
Ten cents up, two bucks down
Ship it out and turn it into fuel
Three bucks shy
Leave it on the table till somebody else with money's got a use
Spinnin so hard
I can’t stand
Shadow of a shadowy man
Hold me up, hold my hand
The treasures that she misses make the man
Ten cents up, two bucks down
Ship it out and turn it into fuel
Three bucks shy
Leave it on the table till somebody else with money's got a use
So hold me up, tie me down
Leave me in the withering pines
Steal my love, steal my kisses
'valuate the differences in life
Ten cents up, two bucks down
Ship it out and turn it into fuel
Three bucks shy
Leave it on the table till somebody else with money's got a use
(repeat chorus)
09 Come Pick Me Up (05:18)
When they call your name,
will you walk right up
with a smile on your face?
or Will you cower in fear
in your favorite sweater?
With an old love letter,
I wish you would...
I wish you would
come pick me up,
take me out,
fuck me up,
steal my records,
screw all my friends,
they're all full of shit,
with a smile on your face.
and Then do it again...
I wish you would...
When you're walking downtown,
do you wish i was there
do you wish it was me
with the windows clear and the mannequins eyes
Do they all look like mine
you know you could
i wish you would
come pick me up,
take me out,
fuck me up,
steal my records,
screw all my friends behind my back,
with a smile on your face.
and Then do it again.
I wish you would
i wish you'd make up my bed
so i could make up my mind
try it for sleeping instead
maybe you'll rest sometime
i wish i could
13 Don't Ask for the Water (02:56)
I hate this old place
And what it represents
And I hate who I was
And who I ended up since
But if you learned how to swim in case you'd drowned
Don't ask her for the water
Cause she'll swallow you down
And she's ten miles of peace
And the hardest of nights
And her belfry's got an arch
But her rooftop's all right
But down here in the sewer
I'm smelling a rat
Don't ask her for the whiskey
Cause her waters all that
And what horses we rode
Through what somber fields
With our lovers at war
And the dust on their heels
And the infidels screamed it's all but a lie
Don't ask her for the water
Cause shell teach you to cry
Don't ask her for the water
Cause she'll teach you to cry
And her weapon of choice is a red patterned dress
And a sack full of stones
With her hands on her chest
And a book full of quotes
And a tight fastened lip
Don't ask her for the water
Cause you'll sink like a ship
Don't ask her for the water
Cause you'll sink like a ship
Loading comments slowly
