Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Brandi Carlile - "The Story"

Happy birthday Danette!

Last year I broke with tradition and picked out a birthday song for her that she actually liked, instead of my usual manner of picking a song that makes me think of her (which she may or may not like).  This year, I'm returning to form, since I think Danette is mostly ambivalent about Brandi Carlile. 

Despite it being a breakthrough hit in 2007, somehow I was unaware of "The Story", the title track from Brandi Carlile's second LP, until she perfomed it on SNL, December 10, 2022.  I guess I was generally aware of her and her work, enough to know that she was well respected in the folk / alt-country genres, and had worked with legends like Tanya Tucker.   But the SNL version of "The Story" was a revelation for me.  

It begins simply enough as a conventional ballad:

   All of these lines across my face
   Tell you the story of who I am
   So many stories of where I've been
   And how I got to where I am
   But these stories don't mean anything
   When you've got no one to tell them to
   It's true, I was made for you

   I climbed across the mountain tops

Hello, this is where song really interesting.  Carlile breaks from the ballad format, and with a sense of urgency, cranks the "alt-country" knob from "country" to "alt":

   Swam all across the ocean blue
   I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
   But baby, I broke them all for you
   Oh, because even when I was flat broke
   You made me feel like a million bucks
   You do, and I was made for you

At the instrumental break, we see her switch from an acoustic to an electric guitar, and the band then proceeds to build tension (1:46 -- 2:10), making me lean forward in my seat, then they knock out a frantic 25 seconds (2:10 -- 2:35) that pays homage to Sonic Youth, before returning to a mostly a cappella stanza:

   You see the smile that's on my mouth
   It's hiding the words that don't come out
   And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed
   They don't know my head is a mess
   No, they don't know who I really am
   And they don't know what I've been through like you do
   And I was made for you

Turning back up the volume and with male back-up vocals providing white noise, they've now set up a loud-quiet-loud progression that would make the Pixies proud:

   All of these lines across my face
   Tell you the story of who I am
   So many stories of where I've been
   And how I got to where I am
   Oh, but these stories don't mean anything
   When you've got no one to tell them to
   It's true, I was made for you

   Oh, yeah, well it's true that I was made for you

I'm a sucker for story telling songs, so how could I not love this poignant meta-story?  Carlile was only 26 when she released this song, which is nearly the amount of time that Danette and I have been together.  Borrowing from what she and I often say about Pink Floyd and "Time" -- at such a young age, how do you write a song with so much insight to lived experience?  

Like Danette, this song has aged well.  Like Danette, my attraction to this song was immediate and visceral. Like Danette, this song reflects the story of who I am. 


Bonus link: the backstory on the "The Story"






Previous birthday songs:
2022: Plastic Bertrand - "Ça plane pour moi
2021: Adam and the Ants - "Christian D'or
2020: Walk Off The Earth - "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"
2019: Nicki Minaj - "Monster"
2018: Bear Hands - "Giants
2017: Alvvays - "Archie, Marry Me
2016: Molly Hatchet - "Flirtin' With Disaster
2015: Avett Brothers - "Kick Drum Heart"
2014: Ani DiFranco - "32 Flavors
2013: The Green Pajamas - "Kim the Waitress"
2012: The Cure - "High"
2011: Blink 182 - "Josie"
2010:  Dead Milkmen - "Punk Rock Girl"  

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