‘Ain’t So Easy’ seems at first like a melancholy look at a love gone wrong - a man who made a mistake, maybe cheated, and wants to forget the past and move forward with his girlfriend to easier times. He pleads with her, “Don’t leave me all alone.”
And it is right there that the song takes a turn. Baerwald’s vocals turn angry, it almost sounds like he is using a different mic, as he growls, “I’m sorry about your eye / I’ll find a way to make amends / It’s only that sometimes / I got to break before I bend.”
David Baerwald is a masterful songwriter, his talent later evident with Sheryl Crow’s ‘Tuesday Night Music Club.’ Here, he takes on the Jeckyl and Hydeness of an abuser in a relationship who seeks forgiveness but still boils underneath. The interplay of the softness of his vocals (“Let me kiss your face / Tend to your aches”) is juxtaposed with the harshness of his taunts (“And where would you go / Anyway?”)
‘Ain't So Easy,’ like much of Boomtown, is deeper and more challenging than some of the late eighties pop music that enveloped it. The last line before the final echoing of the bridge sums it up. “Stop this fooling around / I could never let you get away.” It is clear that Baerwald’s abuser in this song isn’t going to let her go without a fight.
‘Ain’t So Easy’ seems at first like a melancholy look at a love gone wrong - a man who made a mistake, maybe cheated, and wants to forget the past and move forward with his girlfriend to easier times. He pleads with her, “Don’t leave me all alone.”
And it is right there that the song takes a turn. Baerwald’s vocals turn angry, it almost sounds like he is using a different mic, as he growls, “I’m sorry about your eye / I’ll find a way to make amends / It’s only that sometimes / I got to break before I bend.”
David Baerwald is a masterful songwriter, his talent later evident with Sheryl Crow’s ‘Tuesday Night Music Club.’ Here, he takes on the Jeckyl and Hydeness of an abuser in a relationship who seeks forgiveness but still boils underneath. The interplay of the softness of his vocals (“Let me kiss your face / Tend to your aches”) is juxtaposed with the harshness of his taunts (“And where would you go / Anyway?”)
‘Ain't So Easy,’ like much of Boomtown, is deeper and more challenging than some of the late eighties pop music that enveloped it. The last line before the final echoing of the bridge sums it up. “Stop this fooling around / I could never let you get away.” It is clear that Baerwald’s abuser in this song isn’t going to let her go without a fight.
A tragically beautiful song.