During last week's article post, we took a deep dive into songs about lived experiences by deep diving Pocket Full of Gold by Vince Gill, Whipping Post by the Allman Brothers and The Jacket by Ashley McBryde.
This week, we shift gears to add a new genre, but also to music covering three separate decades:
Between an Old Memory and Me - Keith Whitley
As a young man, I was introduced to a country singer named Keith Whitley. My dad really enjoyed Earl Thomas Conley, and he did a song called Brotherly Love with Whitley before the latter’s untimely death in 1989. That song was repeated to my brother and I all the time as kids when we would get to bickering.
When I got a little older, a friend of mine re-introduced me to Whitley’s music and that’s when this song came up.
I was sittin' at a table
In a little club downtown
Playin' songs on the jukebox
And pourin' whiskey down
If you’ve lived at all, you’ve had this exact same experience. The imagery of this opening line is vivid and can easily be seen. Quite literally a man is sitting at a table at a bar or nightclub, he’s dropping money in the jukebox to hear the music that speaks to him and he’s drinking whiskey.
There really is no more country image that we can see from a country song. A heartbroken man, drinking away his sorrows among the crowd of people at a friendly spot in town.
When I heard a sweet voice sayin'
"Would you like some company?"
And I had to tell her
This is just between
an old memory and me
This is the part we unfortunately don’t experience enough. When you’re wallowing away in your heartbreak, a woman approaches. She’s soft on the surface, sees you’re hurting and asks if you want someone to spend the evening with to get your mind off the situation.
Even in his not-so-sober state, he realizes that it’s probably not a good idea to engage her in a conversation at this point. He’s still stable enough to recognize the goal of the evening: To forget about the woman who broke his heart. He’s not interested in bringing someone else down with him.
All my friends tell me
That I'm a fool for holding on
I know their trying to help me
But I've been a fool too long
The narrator begins to tell the story that plays out so often in music. They have been a fool in love and missed all of the red flags that were obvious to everyone else around them.
While the narrator knows his friends are just being friends, it’s taken this situation’s occurring to get him to realize the err in his ways and just how foolish he’s been to stay in the relationship that’s led to heartbreak.
And I don't want to talk about it
So why can't they just let me be?
'Cause this is just between
An old memory and me
The narrator gets to the crux of the issue here. He’s trying to drink away his sorrow and everyone at the club sees that he’s hurting and continues to talk to him. It makes him repeat his story over and over again to the point where he just wants to be left alone.
He didn’t come out tonight to talk about his problems, he wants to be left alone. He most likely wants to just have one night to tie one on and then get on with his life and put the relationship in the past.
And I'm not hurtin' anybody
As far as I can see
I just need to be alone sometimes
While she goes walkin' through my mind
Oh, I'm not hurtin' anybody, yeah
As far as I can see
I just need to be alone sometimes
While she goes walkin' through my mind
In the song, there’s a musical interlude that splits this in two, but lyrically speaking he’s repeating himself. In real life, how often does a person who is drinking repeat themselves?
Anyway, the narrator knows that drinking and listening to music isn’t hurting anyone around him. He simply wants to be among people, but not bothered by them. Most importantly though, he recognizes that this is something he has to do on his own so he can get on with his life. But first, he has to spend some time with himself to get to the bottom of it.
And I don't want to talk about it
So why can't everybody see?
This is just between
An old memory and me
This is just between
Her memory and me
Again, the narrator repeats himself just to emphasize that this is his problem to solve and his problem alone.
Whitley passed away in May 1989 at the age of 34 years old due to acute ethanol poisoning. His blood alcohol content at the time of death, according to the corner was 0.47 which is the equivalent of 20 shots of 100-proof whiskey. The song was later covered, arguably more famously, by Travis Tritt in 1994.
Mr Brightside - The Killers
If you’ve watched a Michigan football game, or maybe even a Buffalo Bills game, you’ve probably heard Mr. Brightside. I heard this song at a Piano bar in downtown Charleston, S.C., more recently at a Penn State Hockey game at Beaver Stadium and most recently at karaoke night at Uncle Al’s in Lock Haven.
I always knew it was a fun song, but not until I sat down to listen to the words did I truly understand its meaning.
Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine
Gotta, gotta be down, because I want it all
It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
At this point in the song, you’re probably a bit unsure what in the world is actually going on. Why is he in a cage? Gotta be down because you want it all? What in the world does that even mean.
All we know at this point is that something started with a kiss, and something ended. After all, it was only a kiss right?
Now I'm falling asleep and she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke and she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed and my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head, but she's touching his
Things clear up significantly in this part of the opening verse. The first two lines make things quite clear that this is the man on the outside looking in at the ash heap of his relationship. He’s dozing off and she’s leaving his apartment that it would appear they might have shared together.
The third person in the story is another guy who is sharing his cigarette with the woman that the narrator was involved with in some way. The final two lines are a vision, not immediate reality. He’s envisioning that they’re at his place, and he gets sick to his stomach at what he is envisioning happening next.
Chest now, he takes off her
Dress now, let me go
And I just can't look, it's killing me
They're taking control
I didn’t insert an unnatural break in the lyrics. Everywhere I looked had a deliberate break in the lyrics and if you’ve heard the song, you know the rhythm follows the lyrics here. This vision is getting worse and worse. He’s seeing a sexual act take place between this woman he was involved with and this new guy and these thoughts have begun to overwhelm him. He can’t handle the idea that she would do this to him, and those overwhelmingly terrible thoughts are controlling his psyche.
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies, choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay, destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes, 'cause I'm Mr. Brightside
The chorus is where the lyrical genius of this song comes out. Jealously is the overwhelming theme of the entire song. He’s jealous of this new guy that he is now getting what he thought was always going to be his. Jealousy brings out the worst in even the best people.
We cope by listening to sad songs that allow us to possibly find meaning in the actions of others to give them an excuse for their crummy behavior.
The narrator realizes that this is the price we pay for love, and wants his eyes opened up to the new world that is right in front of him if he stops being jealous. Finally, the title of the song is a reference to the name the narrator is giving himself that he should look at the “Bright side” of things and realize that his whole life is still ahead of him despite this set back and that brighter days are ahead.
I'm coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine
Gotta, gotta be down, because I want it all
It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep and she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke and she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed and my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head, but she's touching his
The repetition here is powerful. In the song, this second verse is a bit more hard driving and you can hear the tonal shift. The narrator is no longer jealous, he’s truly coming out of his dark place and realizes that all is going to move forward in life. He’s no longer jealous, he’s shifted more to being angry in the second verse. The cage he was in he has now come out of because he’s no longer holding himself back and allowing the cheating ex to define him.
In repeating the story from a different perspective, the narrator gains closure and strength from the situation.
Chest now, he takes off her
Dress now, let me go
'Cause I just can't look, it's killing me
They're taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies, choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay, destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes, 'cause I'm Mr. Brightside
I never...
I never...
I never...
I never…
Boldly, the narrator here is saying that he never expected this but he will never allow it to define him. He never will regret his feelings, or his actions and will never let it happen again.
Unfortunately, this song was written from a real-life experience of the lead singer Brandon Flowers. Flowers wrote the lyrics based on the personal experience of walking into a local bar in Las Vegas when he was 19, where he and found his girlfriend with another man.
Holiday Road - Lindsay Buckingham
Imagine you’re 21 years old going to a bar in college for the first time. You’re told that there’s live music that night which draws you in. The music is fantastic all night, then all of the sudden you hear this song.
Holiday Road was introduced to the world in the 1983 classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
I found out long ago Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
It's a long way down the holiday road
Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
Holiday road
Holiday road
If you’ve only ever heard this song as a part of the movie soundtrack, you may not really understand what Buckingham was getting at here.
By watching the official music video, things will come into clarity. The Holiday Road is referring to the long slog that many workers have without a vacation. The song is about the long, arduous grind of the working life. It does have a beautiful tie-in though to Christmas Vacation as Clark and the Griswold’s go on another epic family vacation around the holidays.
The road is long, even for the Griswold’s but it’s worth it to kick your shoes off and head off on vacation to get away from the daily grind.
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
Take a ride on the West Coast kick
Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
Holiday road
Holiday road
Holiday road
Holiday road
This is a callback to the old nursery rhyme. Buckingham flips the back half to taking a ride on the West Coast kick. If you’re kicking it down the coast, you’re probably driving somewhere. If you’re on the West Coast, you might be on vacation.
The nursery rhyme has jack jumping over a candlestick. In the lyrical sense, a candlestick could be a gear-shifter in the car or could be a small entendre that is assumed in the lyrics to be jumping over a candlestick to the other side which starts a new adventure.
I found out long ago Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
It's a long way down the holiday road Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh
Holiday road
Holiday road
Holiday road
Holiday road
It wasn’t until later in life that I came to truly enjoy this song and actually know who Lindsey Buckingham is. Ken Volz brought down the house on many Friday nights at Uncle Al’s and this song was a big part of my college experience. Now when I hear it, I can’t help but think back on those great times with great friends and one man with an acoustic guitar.