I have trouble with this one: is it a song about an emotionally abusive boyfriend, a drunken one-time hookup that cost the narrator her virginity, or is the "lover" a metaphor for alcohol?
I don't think this song is metaphorical at all -- it sounds autobiographical to me, like another of my favorite Welch songs, "Wrecking Ball" (not to be confused with the Miley Cyrus hit, lol).
I don't think this song is metaphorical at all -- it sounds autobiographical to me, like another of my favorite Welch songs, "Wrecking Ball" (not to be confused with the Miley Cyrus hit, lol).
I think it's literally about her first lover. It's impressionistic, which is powerful in this context, because that's how adolescent memories look from adulthood: her strongest memories of him are his height, his long hair, and a Steve Miller song. Not necessarily a story of abuse or regret, just a rite of passage seen through the haze of the time that's passed since.
I think it's literally about her first lover. It's impressionistic, which is powerful in this context, because that's how adolescent memories look from adulthood: her strongest memories of him are his height, his long hair, and a Steve Miller song. Not necessarily a story of abuse or regret, just a rite of passage seen through the haze of the time that's passed since.
Beautifully...
Beautifully rendered. I love the hard-edged banjo in this one, and I love how she's able to use her adopted Appalachian vernacular to explore hard truths with honesty.
I have trouble with this one: is it a song about an emotionally abusive boyfriend, a drunken one-time hookup that cost the narrator her virginity, or is the "lover" a metaphor for alcohol?
I don't think this song is metaphorical at all -- it sounds autobiographical to me, like another of my favorite Welch songs, "Wrecking Ball" (not to be confused with the Miley Cyrus hit, lol).
I don't think this song is metaphorical at all -- it sounds autobiographical to me, like another of my favorite Welch songs, "Wrecking Ball" (not to be confused with the Miley Cyrus hit, lol).
I think it's literally about her first lover. It's impressionistic, which is powerful in this context, because that's how adolescent memories look from adulthood: her strongest memories of him are his height, his long hair, and a Steve Miller song. Not necessarily a story of abuse or regret, just a rite of passage seen through the haze of the time that's passed since.
I think it's literally about her first lover. It's impressionistic, which is powerful in this context, because that's how adolescent memories look from adulthood: her strongest memories of him are his height, his long hair, and a Steve Miller song. Not necessarily a story of abuse or regret, just a rite of passage seen through the haze of the time that's passed since.
Beautifully...
Beautifully rendered. I love the hard-edged banjo in this one, and I love how she's able to use her adopted Appalachian vernacular to explore hard truths with honesty.