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"
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"
