| Rilo Kiley – Silver Lining Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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I've recently been binging on Jenny Lewis's old Rilo Kiley stuff due to the upcoming release of her new album "On The Line" and the fabulous pre-released "Red Bull & Hennessy" single. I came upon her 2014 live performance video of "Silver Lining" and said to myself "how'd I miss Jenny's amazing Rilo Kiley stuff". So I dug further, read about her background and saw several video interviews that occurred just after the release of her 2014 "The Voyager" album. This made the song come more alive and provides the background for what I think is a good interpretation. Until Jenny became a very successful child star (at about age 10?) she lived on welfare with her mom and (only?) sister. Hence the "I'm not going back into rags". There are hints that Jenny had an abusive relationship with her Mom (i.e., it appears her Mom spent all the proceeds from her child acting gigs and perhaps there was some physical and/or substance abuse). Hence, "I'm not going...into the hole" and perhaps "...while you were running through fields of hitchhikers"). Clearly her child star proceeds were the "Silver Lining" for her mom and family. The final icing to the cake of all this is that when Jenny released "The Voyager" she got a call from her sister who said something to the effect of "Thank god these songs are finally not all about Mom". The irony is that (near as I can tell) Jenny left her family to start Rilo Kiley when her acting career began to sputter ("When I willed our love to die"). When she did so all of the money and houses (she supposedly had two before she was 18) were gone (did her Mom piss it all away on lord knows what?). Jenny was essentially penniless AGAIN. However this only adds more power to "But now I'm gold" since it's about the freedom to have hope for a bright new future rather than just about money. Knowing what I've learned about the rags-to-riches-to-rags experience of Jenny Lewis's childhood makes this song all the more powerful (and helps to further solidify Jenny's prominence as a singer-songwriter to be treasured for her honestly self-revealing yet both catchy & beautifully poetic lyrics). "Silver Lining" now brings me to tears every time I hear it! |
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