Two :: Ryan Adams

Guest Blogger: Krista!!!
I've never been a big country fan, but lately I find myself digging what they're calling "Alt-country." Where newer mainstream country has ridiculous socially and melodically offensive songs like "The Angry American" and "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk," I really like the way Alt-country kind of hearkens back to simple musicality and sincere lyrics instead of cranking up the slide guitar between verses and then forcing manufactured pop junk into a catchy chorus.

Case in point: Ryan Adam's "Two." I love his lyrics for their misleading simplicity. If you take anything simply at face value here, I think you're missing out on a lot. When Adams sings the chorus, I think most people assume he's singing about entering a relationship and giving up some independence. However, it's also a reference to his drug and alcohol addiction and time in rehab. "It takes two when it used to take one:" these are very simple words, but Adams is able to create an extremely powerful double meaning with them--and he does this throughout the whole song. This thoughtfulness in his lyrics just astonishes me.

I get the loneliness here, too; I feel there's a desire to reach out, but there's also the embarrassment and shame in admitting you need something or someone.

I just hope this isn't my gateway drug into other country music. I hope my friends will hold an intervention for me if I start huffing Toby Keith.



Lyrics:
If you take me back
Back to your place
I'll try not to bother you, I promise
'Cause it's cold in here
And I wish it was hot
The sink's broke
It's leaking from the faucet

And I'm fractured from the fall
And I wanna go home
But it takes two when it used to take one
It takes two when it used to take only one

Well, my money's no good when I'm up to no good
No good ever comes from it, honest
I got a really good heart
I just can't catch a break
If I could I'd treat you like you wanted me to, I promise

But I'm fractured from the fall
And I wanna go home
I'm fractured from the fall
And I wanna go home
But it takes two when it used to take one
It takes two when it used to take one
It takes two when it used to take one
It takes two when it used to take only one

Something Great :: Haley Bonar

i heard this song a couple of weeks back, but recently happened upon it again whilst listening to 89.3 The Current. i really dig this woman and after doing some research, i get so excited it's noticeably obvious! turns out Haley Bonar is a fellow midwesterner (from South Dakota) who is based out of St. Paul, Minnesota! *swoon!* so clearly i am completely interested in this musician from the start.

she's got a few records out (the first put out in 2003), with her latest album titled Big Star having been released earlier this past year. she has also won a couple of Minnesota Music Awards, which is super exciting as well...not to mention having her album featured in the Star Tribune, City Pages, The Onion, and Pulse magazine.

what i really enjoy about Haley Bonar is that she sounds like a nice blend of midwestern country meets hippie folk...not your typical twangy country singer, not quite weird enough to be super folky...i like how calm her music is too. she makes me want to take a road trip and buy all her music and spend 22 hours listening to just her while i leave the concrete and buildings and traffic behind and watch the corn fields and dirt roads pass me.

i am really excited for this musician and even more excited to be able to move to the Twin Cities so that i can add her to the list of artists to try to see on a regular basis!

the end.
love,
meggo.


Something Great :: Haley Bonar

(i tried to find the lyrics online, but couldn't so i did the best i could...if anyone has any corrections, feel free to leave them in the comment section!)

you've been talkin bout something great
but you don't really know what you're sayin
i guess that goes without to say
that you don't really know what you're payin for

but it's in the way
it's in the way you see
it's in the way
it's in the way you see
me

my mother told me this yesterday
that girls like me only get to somewhere
it's not really much of the things you say
but how you look at them
and who does your hair

the skin you take
the kids you face baby
the skin you take might take your place baby

you'd be talkin about something great
but you don't really know what you're saying
i guess that goes without to say
that you don't know really what you're paying for
what you're paying for
what you're paying for

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