Making Pies

I love this song, and listening to this song today, I just felt the need to talk about it. Patty does indeed have an amazing talent for storytelling. abhayadana has it right in that it is someone who is 'resilient...in the face of the absurdity of life' To me, it speaks of a woman whose 'sweetheart...before the war' was killed and she never let anyone else take his place. Instead of having a partner to share her life with, she satisfies herself with being happy for her sister and her nephew. She gets on with her life, filling it with things to do, things that take little effort but time away from the loneliness. She could 'cry or die' but she chooses to do something else that she doesn't have to think much about to take her mind off all that has and hasn't happened. She types and she makes pies. It is a heart-breaking song, because you can see the life of monotony that this once vibrant young woman, now older and gray, has resigned herself to. It really feels like your talking to this woman, feelng for her; something very few songwriters can achieve. There's a kind of swelling of pride and hope and sorrow that accompanies this song everytime I hear it. I love everything about it: it's story, it's melody, it's pace, it's simplistic beauty. More people should listen to this song, listen to Patty full stop.

i think that patty just has the most amazing talent for telling stories through her songs. 'making pies' is heart-breaking because it tells the story of someone whose life has mostly passed her by. and yet, she is resilient; she survives; she makes pies. in the face of the absurdity of life, 'you could cry or die / or just make pies all day.' let's all make pies.

@dark_maiden, thank you for putting this into words! You are more than right, Patty Griffin is such a treasure that hasn't been fully discovered, but maybe it shouldn't be discovered so broadly, so it doesn't become commerciallized. Yet, it's a treasure only to be found by those who are looking for deeper things .....

Think some of you are missing a big part of this song. The WAR has taken not just her sweetheart away, but also her dreams & plans for the future as well as her faith in God. In the first verse, she's showing off pictures of her nephew BECAUSE she has no kids of her own and is forced to live vicariously through her sister. Clearly, she had aspirations of having a family with The Greek. Her questioning of her religious faith is evident in the 2nd verse. She goes to type for Father Mike because it "gets her out". Also, Jesus is looking at her from "way up there on the wall". This indicates that she feels distant from Jesus Christ and that her faith is something she struggles with. This is a very tragic tail indeed.

this old woman, her life is on repeat, the little things are such a big thing to her (like her nephew's birthday) the only reason she goes to church is to do something. she used to care about things like the plastic cap, and the war, but now she doesn't care because she's old. she's saying she could cry because her life doesn't change, but it won't change, she'll just end up making the pies all day.

I think everyone really got this song right, especially dark maiden. When I first heard it, I thought it was one of the most depressing things I'd ever heard. But after sitting with it for some time, it's less depressing--I mean, she gets on with her life, no matter however gray and commonplace it might be. She takes joy in these little things and just keeps going. Or maybe it's just quiet resignation-- because the things that she takes joy in are so small that it's kind of depressing. I don't know, how I see it really depends on my mood when I'm listen to it. Anyway, it's a lovely song--certainly not what you'd expect given the title.

i once saw a dance, self choreographed by a girl i know. her performance as well as this song reduced me to tears, seriously, it was beautiful!

Another confirmation of Patty's songwriting genius. Have to agree with stevesomething about the faith interpretation, though it's only tragic if you believe that loss of faith in a divine being is always a bad thing. Sometimes re-examining your view of reality can bring you closer to inner peace. Love Darkmaiden's comments.

I agree with the assessments here about the meaning of the song, but I thought I'd add a bit of "inside information." The Table Talk bakery which she described operated for years in Worcester, Massachusetts (I gre up tehre and worked there.) Much of its work force was immigrant, and the majority, interestingly, Greek. Worcester also has a substantial Italian population, and the Italian neighborhood borders on where the bakery is located. I'd like to know more of how Patty came to write this song, because I'm almost positive it has to be based on a true story to some extent: I have no doubt that she knew someone, or was told by someone, of a "lost love" story such as "stevesomething" describes above. The story of "the Greek and his Italian girl" before the war (I'm guessing he died in WW2) had to be one she heard from friends or family.

But my experience of pie making at church is that the pies signify so much. Usually apple, the pies are made and frozen without being baked. People buy a stack of them to have on hand for when company drops in or there is a family gathering. The church pies then become something of either comfort or convenience but definitely are part of a social time. The other thing that the pies signify is that churches make pies to raise money to help the very people like the woman in the song. Pies fund social outreach. You know that you have a good piece of art before you when it is elegantly simple but so many people can draw so much from its deep well of meaning.