I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
We picked our way
Down to the beach
Watching the waves dragging out of our reach
Tangling tails like a sodden sheet
Dangling entrails from a gut of the sea
Hoarding our meals
Alfalfa and rolls
Trying not to catch the cold eye of the gulls
I hope mother nature has not overheard
Though she doles out hurt like a puking bird
You stayed for the winter
No one told us about the laws of the land
I hold my own but you with your hunger
You and the other hand
Make yourself known
And when we were found
I know we both grieved
My heart made the sound of snow falling from eaves
You and me, Bess
We was as thick as thieves
So I swore nonetheless
Up and down, it was only me
So they took me away
And after some time
Studying my case must have made up their minds
By the time you realized I was dying
Must have been too late
I believe you were not lying a little
It is the day I
Wait with my ears cocked up like a gun
Like every day of course
Yanked by my wrists to the sugar front court yard
Now tell me what have I done?
Seems I have stolen a horse and I step to the gallows
Who do you think that you are?
Arching your hooves like a crane in the shallow
Gutters that line the boulevards
Powdered with folks who just stare as I hang
It's all the same
Kindness comes over me, what was your name?
It makes no difference, I'm glad that you came
Forever I'll listen to your glad neighing
Down to the beach
Watching the waves dragging out of our reach
Tangling tails like a sodden sheet
Dangling entrails from a gut of the sea
Hoarding our meals
Alfalfa and rolls
Trying not to catch the cold eye of the gulls
I hope mother nature has not overheard
Though she doles out hurt like a puking bird
You stayed for the winter
No one told us about the laws of the land
I hold my own but you with your hunger
You and the other hand
Make yourself known
And when we were found
I know we both grieved
My heart made the sound of snow falling from eaves
You and me, Bess
We was as thick as thieves
So I swore nonetheless
Up and down, it was only me
So they took me away
And after some time
Studying my case must have made up their minds
By the time you realized I was dying
Must have been too late
I believe you were not lying a little
It is the day I
Wait with my ears cocked up like a gun
Like every day of course
Yanked by my wrists to the sugar front court yard
Now tell me what have I done?
Seems I have stolen a horse and I step to the gallows
Who do you think that you are?
Arching your hooves like a crane in the shallow
Gutters that line the boulevards
Powdered with folks who just stare as I hang
It's all the same
Kindness comes over me, what was your name?
It makes no difference, I'm glad that you came
Forever I'll listen to your glad neighing
Lyrics submitted by theboydetective
You and Me, Bess Lyrics as written by Joanna Newsom
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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I believe this song is about Gallant Bess, which was a horse that was rescued by a naval sailor in WWII, who was from Grass Valley (a town connected to Joanna's hometown of Nevada City). This would seem to play into the connections surrounding Nevada City in many of her songs, especially HOOM, which seems very connected to her home.