Landlines
Lisa’s music always strikes a certain chord with me. There is something truly exceptional about the way she meticulously crafts her songs. It always gets me thinking and inspires me to write. It just feels so sincere; it has been said that the only truth is music. I really feel that as I listen to this album it has this magnificently genuine aire about it. I don’t feel as if Lisa is holding back and all the emotions put into this album come across unquestionably; I feel it so heavily and completely.
I’ve grown awkward with small talk
/
because I've grown too close to goodbyes
/
I’ve grown awkward with small talk / because I've grown too close to goodbyes /
Swedish Fish
This track snuck up on me. I heard this song many times without really hearing what is being said. I honed in on the upbeat tempo, the mention of candy and just assumed it was about the simplicity of youth and finding joy in life. I thought perhaps the Swedish Fish were a metaphor for when things were easier and that was sort of but not really correct. When I finally got a clue and paid attention to the lyrics I heard this story about people that were once inseparable and now haven’t actually talked in years. Life choices took them in completely opposing directions.
“Laughter turning our eyes glass,
The penis game in the back of the class
Laying on you in the shade,
Before the move, before the change
Before your bride, before the calls declined,
Before the vague “are you ok?” between the lines
Before “of course, they got divorced” your sister sighed
Back when we were just kids, sharing swedish
Swedish fish”
These kind of situations bring with them a slew of mixed emotions. You find joy in the fact that you had these great experiences once but you also cannot help but feel saddened by the fact that they are no longer really a part of your life. Within the song a life event occurs which causes these people to come in contact again. It causes even more mixed emotions; you kind of have to wonder if on some level it wouldn’t have been better if they just didn’t call because you know that it isn’t going to last and soon they will be gone again. But you get just this brief glimpse of how things were and how they could be. It is this simultaneous feeling of elation and anguish.
“Your message said, you heard the news,
“Congratulations, I’m happy for you”
You sounded like, those kids we knew
A decade later, like we didn’t become strangers
Like we still talked for hours, on campus grounds,
Like we still make our trips to the lake house
Like time stood still, and nothing changed
Like we’re still a group in that magic way (those were the days)
But we no longer talk, and we’re no longer kids,
And we no longer share, Swedish fish”
As with most everything in life this isn’t something that is easy to deal with and I love how well this track illustrates that fact. The first time I actually listened to the words I could feel the emotional back and forth that is happening it was like I knew exactly what was being felt and experienced by the subject of the track. Lisa does this so well, she puts you inside a song, takes you on this journey and it feels like its your own.
Someday
This is a track that I picture playing during a time-lapse video of someone’s life. You see there lives change their family grow. This track speaks of hopes, dreams, and a desire to have your wishes fulfilled. There is an acknowledgement of the fact that despite the fact that all of our hopes and dreams won’t come to fruition you can still enjoy you life’s journey with all its twists and turns, its high and low points. As you strive to make those hopes and dreams a reality.
“Someday, everyone longs for someday, hoping it comes around, somehow
I’m here, cupping my hands, to both ears, listening to the sounds of somehow”
It is a reminder that while looking towards the future we must not forget to take the time to really enjoy the here and now. Having goals is a necessary part of life and it is important to have them but nothing ruins the present like a longing for better tomorrows. You need to take the time to unplug to de-stress and have conversations that don’t take place over text or email because as a wise man once said “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Someday, turns into someday,
Turns into you
I listened to the song so many times before this part finally hit me. A possible meaning for the word Someday in this track is all your hopes and dreams your future wrapped up together. So thinking about this line that context its this beautiful way of say that you have found this special someone who is now an integral part of your future, Someday turns into you, almost like nothing else really matters you are just happy to be experiencing your life with this person. I don’t know if that was any part of the intended meaning but once it hit me now each time I listen it feels different. It is such a moving sentiment so elegantly stated.
“Someday, is different now, yeah it’s framed,
In pictures along the walls, in pictures of all
The birthdays, wishes believed,
Our parents, the love that they leave, it goes too fast.”
I mentioned a time-lapse video earlier I see this verse occurring at the end after much of the subject life has been experienced and they are looking back on all the memories they created. I hope that when I reach that point in my own life I will be able to look back on the meaningful memories that I took the time to create and experience.
Landlines
This track causes me to reflect on the past and the way things used to be specifically when it comes to relationships I once had that have since disappeared. This track speaks on the fact that our more connected world has in some ways actually made us less connected. We used to memorize a person’s phone number and make a real effort to call them and have a conversation. In many cases we would even have to plan a specific time that would be best to call. Now that same conversation can simply involve sending an instant message of some kind and there is this a certain social protocol attached to that. You can feel like it is expected that you take the time to reply instantly. A conversation that would have once been a 30 minute phone call may take hours or even days to complete. It is true that such technology allows us to keep in touch with people we may not otherwise be able to have contact with but most of these forms of communication outside of video calls aren’t very personal especially when compared to the old school way of calling people up on your landline. Not that we of course still cannot call people up, we just don’t do it so much anymore, at least I know that is true for me. In some cases we just lose contact with people and it feels tied to losing old technology and the practices that went with it. There is something special, almost elegant about older analog technology which draws me to it. Everything had heft and buttons made noises when you pressed them. Now everything is made to run silently, phones haven’t even really had buttons for a while and it just doesn’t hit the same. This part of the track summarizes this perfectly.
“Been walking under the landlines lately
Trying to listen in
The cadence and that ease we held our conversations
And it feels like nobody’s listening
Now that you’re not here
And it feels cheap to play along, but feels wrong to disappear”
This song is truly a contemplative one and it is enhanced by the brilliant imagery on the albums cover. It is this outstanding visualization of the fact that when technology which had a defining role in our lives disappears, other things are washing away with it and we may not even notice. The question I ask myself after listening to this track is what do we sacrifice for the increased convenience of modern technology? I think about this as it applies to streaming music. It is so easy I will often be listening while I am doing a number of other things; it is not getting my full attention. In contrast if I pull out a record or cassette tape I will take the time to sit and listen at the very least you have to be paying enough attention to flip either form of media over to second side. The two listening experiences are very different. At this point in time this track has definitely made me think the most there is so much more I could say but I will say that for another time.
Packard Street
This is what is feels like when you are watching someone you care about put themselves into a bad situation and they cannot see it. Love being blind doesn't always work out for some people. When you are in it there can be many things that you just don’t see or perhaps you do see it but want to admit to yourself. It is a losing battle to help someone who doesn’t want help.
“Too soon, came the photographs
Engaged, I guess he finally asked
Your calls, have been thinning out
With your dreams, it’s like I barely know you now
Now, you’ve been falling in love and through the cracks,
I guess, just call, just call me back.”
This line “your calls, have been thinning out with your dreams” I just love how well and cleverly it gets the point across. The correlation between losing touch with your friends and letting your dreams drop by the wayside is so real. Also this line “Now, you’ve been falling in love and through the cracks” I just love the magnificent way Lisa shows how this one thing is related to another so clearly. I hear and know exactly what is being talked about in fact I have been there before. Lisa is fantastic when it comes to writing songs with clear and concise meanings which simultaneously contain great emotional depth.
“Your prayers, are they answered now?
That ring, it’s like he bought you out
Your tone is now a shallow drone
Sounds kinda like someone I used to know.”
I pointed out sections like this in other song’s Lisa has written the ones that come to mind are “EST” and “Myself” I absolutely love these high level burns when they are included. I feel that even these subtle insults have layers to them and I find them fantastic. If I am ever in need of a expertly crafted moderately subtle lyrical insult I know where to go. I mean “it’s like he bought you out” as if to say what makes you who are can just be auctioned off to the highest bidder, its not even about me and it stings when I hear it.
Too good at talking to the mirror and I’m tired of playing pretend.
It’s not worth the fight for me to tell you that you’ve lost yourself again
oh what a state to start love in
I am guessing everyone knows of someone who tends to get lost in relationships seemingly absorbing the personality traits of the person they are with. So much so that who they are is no longer present. Luckily when I found myself in such a situation I was called back, I snapped out of it. I realized what was happening in my life that wasn’t what love should be like. If that is how you are starting your life with someone I wouldn’t like to see what comes next. This track is acknowledging that sometimes no matter how hard you try or how bad you want it you cannot always get through to someone despite how close you may have been.
Plato has been credited with saying the following “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” I cannot think of a better way to summarize my feelings as I studied and dissected this magnificent collection of tracks. It made me think, made me dream, made me believe and infiltrated the furthest reaches of my soul. Each of tracks in this album are essentially two tracks in one. There is so often a more easily discerned theme and meaning to a song and then something different emerges when you are able to dig deep and find what is hiding below the surface. Due to that fact I know that I missed so much and I have no doubt that I will be listening to and gaining new insights from this album for years to come. I plan on talking about the tracks that I didn’t include in this post later this year; when I have the vinyl in my possession, outside of Wanting More which I discussed previously here.
You know what else is great about Lisa, she is so full of gratitude and humility just an all around exemplary human being. It feels good to show support for someone that you know is putting out such goodness into a world that is in dire need of it.
