Click on the headline to link to a "YouTube" film clip of Patty Griffin performing "You Are Not Alone."
CD Review
Living With Ghosts, Patty Griffin, AM Records, 1996
Frankly, I do not spend much time reviewing some of the most contemporary folk artists on that scene today, although I am vitally interested in where that music is going, and who will keep the folk flame burning. Part of the reason for my neglect is, to paraphrase a somewhat famous folkie from the 1960s folk revival; it is “hard to get worked up about lyrics complaining that the family Volvo is not available or the foibles of a school vacation trip to the Swiss Alps.” (Real lyrics, believe me.) No question that much of the current scene when not just plain 'jailing' lyrics into some “politically correct” form in order to offend no one or no thing tends to those trivialities.
But not all current folk (or folk rock, which is closer to what the current genre should be called) performers are out there mainly to merely to not offend as the artist under review, Patty Griffin, amply proves. And it does not hurt that she spent some time as a waitress (ah, waitperson) in hallowed Harvard Square in Cambridge and some time singing on those hard street corners of that town in order to hone her skills. This woman “speaks” to me. Any one who puts out a lyric “put out the fire in your head” (from the final song on this CD, “Not Alone”) tells me I had best listen up because some kind of hard- learned truth is aborning. And it was, and is.
This is another one of those albums not for the faint-hearted as the above-mentioned “Not Alone” demonstrates. But Patty also speaks of dysfunctional family, sibling rivalry, loneliness, loneliness in the struggle trying to get a break, fear of failure, and fear of the pratfalls of success. In short, just those kinds of things that made me pay attention in the old days when that cranky 1960s folk revival was aborning. Listen up as the torch gets passed.
"Not Alone"
She sees him laying in the bed alone tonight
The only thing a touching him is a crack of light
Pieces of her hair are wrapped around and 'round his fingers
And he reaches for her side, for any sign of her that lingers
And she says you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
One of them bullets went straight for the jugular vein
There were people running , a flash of light
Then everything changed
Nothing really matters in the end you know
All the worrys sever
Don't be afraid for me my friend, one day we all fall down forever
She says you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
The wedding date was June just like any other bride
She loved him like no one before and it was good to be alive
But sometimes that can slip away as fast
As any fingers through your hands
So you let time forgive the past and go and make some other plans
You are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
You are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
CD Review
Living With Ghosts, Patty Griffin, AM Records, 1996
Frankly, I do not spend much time reviewing some of the most contemporary folk artists on that scene today, although I am vitally interested in where that music is going, and who will keep the folk flame burning. Part of the reason for my neglect is, to paraphrase a somewhat famous folkie from the 1960s folk revival; it is “hard to get worked up about lyrics complaining that the family Volvo is not available or the foibles of a school vacation trip to the Swiss Alps.” (Real lyrics, believe me.) No question that much of the current scene when not just plain 'jailing' lyrics into some “politically correct” form in order to offend no one or no thing tends to those trivialities.
But not all current folk (or folk rock, which is closer to what the current genre should be called) performers are out there mainly to merely to not offend as the artist under review, Patty Griffin, amply proves. And it does not hurt that she spent some time as a waitress (ah, waitperson) in hallowed Harvard Square in Cambridge and some time singing on those hard street corners of that town in order to hone her skills. This woman “speaks” to me. Any one who puts out a lyric “put out the fire in your head” (from the final song on this CD, “Not Alone”) tells me I had best listen up because some kind of hard- learned truth is aborning. And it was, and is.
This is another one of those albums not for the faint-hearted as the above-mentioned “Not Alone” demonstrates. But Patty also speaks of dysfunctional family, sibling rivalry, loneliness, loneliness in the struggle trying to get a break, fear of failure, and fear of the pratfalls of success. In short, just those kinds of things that made me pay attention in the old days when that cranky 1960s folk revival was aborning. Listen up as the torch gets passed.
"Not Alone"
She sees him laying in the bed alone tonight
The only thing a touching him is a crack of light
Pieces of her hair are wrapped around and 'round his fingers
And he reaches for her side, for any sign of her that lingers
And she says you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
One of them bullets went straight for the jugular vein
There were people running , a flash of light
Then everything changed
Nothing really matters in the end you know
All the worrys sever
Don't be afraid for me my friend, one day we all fall down forever
She says you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
The wedding date was June just like any other bride
She loved him like no one before and it was good to be alive
But sometimes that can slip away as fast
As any fingers through your hands
So you let time forgive the past and go and make some other plans
You are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
You are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
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