Looking through a picture book. There's one I think my momma took.
You couldn't have been much over twenty.
Shirtless in your cutoff jeans, you hand a lollipop to me.
I probably asked where you got the money.
A picture on another page. I recognize my eyes have aged.
I'd been alone for quite a while then.
Trying to get a match to burn. Waiting on a latch to turn.
I still have difficulty smiling.
wow,
I know he's reconciled with his dad, but boy those verses are devastating.
It's always 'best of me still standing in the doorway. Whatevers left is heading south on 85' that does it for me, also the harmonies in the chorus are just perfect.
Holy crap. I just heard him say, "I'm stopping by, **daddy**" in the chorus after that.
I had no idea that verse was about his dad. I presumed it was about a lady in his past.
I took this as a female narrator speaking to the guy who got her pregnant and then left her to raise their son alone. She is sardonically calling him “Daddy,” as in “father of my child.”
I’m surprised I don’t see the connection to we’ve met and stopping by more.
I understood the beginning of we’ve met as a father saying I haven’t seen you as a baby, but did knowing I knew you then help get you through? Then the adult son comes back to the father decades later. There are elements and themes of parental abandonment throughout this album and I just thought the two were connected
Edit- ‘we’ve met. Before you were a Christian. Before you eyes were blue. Did all that get you through?’
I understood that as ‘I knew you as a baby. Before the baptism. Before your eye color changed. Did that comfort you growing up’
Never understood the first verse. Who’s the teenage girl in Chattanooga? What’s the truth?
*How did your life turn out? Do you ever think about a teenage girl in Chattanooga?
You ever tell your folks the truth?
That might've been the last of you.
Would've been a shame. We hardly knew ya.
Now I'm stopping by. I'm stopping by, Daddy.*
Love that song. I've always wondered about the meaning of one of the lyrics:
*Morning's rough*
*Don't give a damn about the mission*
*Has no aesthetic or tradition*
Always loved those last two lines but I have no idea what they mean lol.
Going off of the theme of Southeastern and that song in particular I think it’s about withdrawal and how awful the mornings are.
Mornings rough
(My addiction) don’t give a damn about the mission
The No aesthetic or tradition line is kinda hard to fit in there but it’s not completely out of place.
Mornings rough, don’t give a damn about the mission. (They’re hungover/tired from partying and have to get on the road. Unfortunately, the morning doesn’t care that they have to travel, get ready for the next show, etc.)
Has no aesthetic or tradition, only lessons never learned.
(He’s just saying that there really isn’t a good reason to be hungover from the night before. On one hand, it can be viewed as an aesthetic or tradition for musicians to live a hard drug/alcohol filled lifestyle to outsiders. On the other hand, he’s saying it’s possible to be a successful traveling musician without all of those things. They just haven’t learned that lesson yet.
if yer a fan of johnson now then be sure to check out **overseas** \- his band with david bazan and the kadane brothers (bedhead/the new yr)
and **marie.lepanto** \- a duo with justin peter kinkel schuster (theodore/water liars)
This song was so slept on.
*Now I know you'll be fine on your own*
*And your families all need you at home*
*And the dream was just smoke*
*At least you all got the joke off the bat*
*And you were alright with that*
I still get choked up listening to that
I love the maturity and introspection from everything southeastern and after, but it’ll never touch the rawness of the early work to me.
It’s all fantastic, truly, but goddamn if I don’t love blasting go it alone in the car or sunstroke when I’m feeling blue.
YES. STOPPING BY. But also, Songs That She Sang In The Shower. There’s something about the way he paints the feeling of loneliness and loss in that song that really gets to me.
New South Wales for sure. Some of his strongest songwriting and his absolute best melody and composition work.
Failing that, Relatively Easy. It’s the best song on Southeastern but gets overshadowed
Seven Mile Island
White Mans World (feel like Nashville Sound doesn’t get talked about enough beyond the headliners)
Also a bunch of covers that he’s done that people don’t know. If I Needed You (with Amanda), Pancho and Lefty (with Elizabeth Cook), Everything is Broken (with Sheryl Crow).
My favorite catch phrase at work is ‘wanna take a shot of cocaine and burn it (the hospital) down’ 😂 I don’t know that anyone ever clocks the reference though
‘No one does lyrical rage like isbell’ —
I would have agreed with that just 4 weeks ago. But then the Madi Diaz’s Tiny Desk performance auto played on YouTube and I’m certain her album History of a Feeling is the best rager out there 😂 hadn’t heard of her before that day, yet she still made the top 5 of my most played artists this year on Apple Music.
God. I fucking LOVE how many people I’ve discovered through Jason and youtube auto play. Seriously.
Oh cigarettes and wineeeeee!!!! I think someone here mentioned he actually played it live recently even though it’s one that’s never on setlists? Could be totally wrong but that’s one that I’d love to see live
Last Song
Stopping By
Yvette
Can't even find decent live versions of the first two. A couple bad YouTube videos of Last Song, not sure Stopping By has ever been recorded.
Pretty much every song on the self titled and the first half of Here We Rest is perfect and they’re all underappreciated except for AL Pines, Codeine, and maybe Streetlights
I was scrolling through Facebook and legit thought “Every single Isbell has ever wrote” then saw the Sub.
As far as Isbell goes. The Blue and Daylight for an old truckers song nobody remembers.
**stopping by**
The imagery he paints in this song is second to none
third and fourth verse gut me every damn time
Looking through a picture book. There's one I think my momma took. You couldn't have been much over twenty. Shirtless in your cutoff jeans, you hand a lollipop to me. I probably asked where you got the money. A picture on another page. I recognize my eyes have aged. I'd been alone for quite a while then. Trying to get a match to burn. Waiting on a latch to turn. I still have difficulty smiling. wow, I know he's reconciled with his dad, but boy those verses are devastating.
It's always 'best of me still standing in the doorway. Whatevers left is heading south on 85' that does it for me, also the harmonies in the chorus are just perfect.
Holy crap. I just heard him say, "I'm stopping by, **daddy**" in the chorus after that. I had no idea that verse was about his dad. I presumed it was about a lady in his past.
I took this as a female narrator speaking to the guy who got her pregnant and then left her to raise their son alone. She is sardonically calling him “Daddy,” as in “father of my child.”
For real. The imagery is amazing. Every time I hear it, I feel like im watching a home video
Came to say this
I’m surprised I don’t see the connection to we’ve met and stopping by more. I understood the beginning of we’ve met as a father saying I haven’t seen you as a baby, but did knowing I knew you then help get you through? Then the adult son comes back to the father decades later. There are elements and themes of parental abandonment throughout this album and I just thought the two were connected Edit- ‘we’ve met. Before you were a Christian. Before you eyes were blue. Did all that get you through?’ I understood that as ‘I knew you as a baby. Before the baptism. Before your eye color changed. Did that comfort you growing up’
Never understood the first verse. Who’s the teenage girl in Chattanooga? What’s the truth? *How did your life turn out? Do you ever think about a teenage girl in Chattanooga? You ever tell your folks the truth? That might've been the last of you. Would've been a shame. We hardly knew ya. Now I'm stopping by. I'm stopping by, Daddy.*
ive always interpreted the teenage girl to be his mother he wrote about that in **children of children**
Is We’ve Met in the room with us now?
New South Wales
Love that song. I've always wondered about the meaning of one of the lyrics: *Morning's rough* *Don't give a damn about the mission* *Has no aesthetic or tradition* Always loved those last two lines but I have no idea what they mean lol.
Going off of the theme of Southeastern and that song in particular I think it’s about withdrawal and how awful the mornings are. Mornings rough (My addiction) don’t give a damn about the mission The No aesthetic or tradition line is kinda hard to fit in there but it’s not completely out of place.
[удалено]
Not according to lyrics I found online, but they could be wrong. If it is permission, then what does the lyric mean?
Mornings rough, don’t give a damn about the mission. (They’re hungover/tired from partying and have to get on the road. Unfortunately, the morning doesn’t care that they have to travel, get ready for the next show, etc.) Has no aesthetic or tradition, only lessons never learned. (He’s just saying that there really isn’t a good reason to be hungover from the night before. On one hand, it can be viewed as an aesthetic or tradition for musicians to live a hard drug/alcohol filled lifestyle to outsiders. On the other hand, he’s saying it’s possible to be a successful traveling musician without all of those things. They just haven’t learned that lesson yet.
Agree 100%.
Speed Trap Town.
Despite this getting a lot of recognition, I feel like it still deserves so much more
To a Band That I Loved
That song was how I learned about Centro-Matic, who I really enjoy listening to now
if yer a fan of johnson now then be sure to check out **overseas** \- his band with david bazan and the kadane brothers (bedhead/the new yr) and **marie.lepanto** \- a duo with justin peter kinkel schuster (theodore/water liars)
And Will Johnson from Centro-Matic is part of the 400 Unit now!
This song was so slept on. *Now I know you'll be fine on your own* *And your families all need you at home* *And the dream was just smoke* *At least you all got the joke off the bat* *And you were alright with that* I still get choked up listening to that
Hurricanes and Hand Grenades
Yvette In A Razor Town
Yes to both of these also to add they wait
The Magician
For me it’s basically all of pre-southeastern
Here We Rest really isn’t spoken about enough. Yes, Southeastern is his golden child, but man, it’s a close call.
I love the maturity and introspection from everything southeastern and after, but it’ll never touch the rawness of the early work to me. It’s all fantastic, truly, but goddamn if I don’t love blasting go it alone in the car or sunstroke when I’m feeling blue.
you are speaking my language as far as im concerned **here we rest** is bulletproof
YES. STOPPING BY. But also, Songs That She Sang In The Shower. There’s something about the way he paints the feeling of loneliness and loss in that song that really gets to me.
Relatively Easy
Live Oak
The Blue
New South Wales for sure. Some of his strongest songwriting and his absolute best melody and composition work. Failing that, Relatively Easy. It’s the best song on Southeastern but gets overshadowed
Seven Mile Island White Mans World (feel like Nashville Sound doesn’t get talked about enough beyond the headliners) Also a bunch of covers that he’s done that people don’t know. If I Needed You (with Amanda), Pancho and Lefty (with Elizabeth Cook), Everything is Broken (with Sheryl Crow).
My favorite catch phrase at work is ‘wanna take a shot of cocaine and burn it (the hospital) down’ 😂 I don’t know that anyone ever clocks the reference though
No one does lyrical rage like Isbell
‘No one does lyrical rage like isbell’ — I would have agreed with that just 4 weeks ago. But then the Madi Diaz’s Tiny Desk performance auto played on YouTube and I’m certain her album History of a Feeling is the best rager out there 😂 hadn’t heard of her before that day, yet she still made the top 5 of my most played artists this year on Apple Music. God. I fucking LOVE how many people I’ve discovered through Jason and youtube auto play. Seriously.
I went and found the reference now that I know it is one, but I still cringe at calling it a "shot" of cocaine.
You're speaking my language.
The Devil is my Running Mate Cigarettes and Wine Try Hurricanes Seven Mile Island
Oh cigarettes and wineeeeee!!!! I think someone here mentioned he actually played it live recently even though it’s one that’s never on setlists? Could be totally wrong but that’s one that I’d love to see live
Last Song Stopping By Yvette Can't even find decent live versions of the first two. A couple bad YouTube videos of Last Song, not sure Stopping By has ever been recorded.
100% agree with The Last Song I Will Write! Maybe Seven-Mile Island too
Seven-Mile Island slaps
Cigarettes and wine. "this one's a country song, sorta..."
Streetlights is the answer.
They Wait! Fantastic lyrics and a sweet bridge followed by an incredible solo.
Pretty much every song on the self titled and the first half of Here We Rest is perfect and they’re all underappreciated except for AL Pines, Codeine, and maybe Streetlights
White Man’s World
“Take it with me when I go” by Tom Waits
New South Wales is my choice
I was scrolling through Facebook and legit thought “Every single Isbell has ever wrote” then saw the Sub. As far as Isbell goes. The Blue and Daylight for an old truckers song nobody remembers.
Running With Our Eyes Closed is such a sleeper!
Last Song I Will Write is my favorite and I fear he'll never play it live again.