Thursday One-Hitter.....

Although I already have a feature post that highlights just one track - One Liners - sometimes I feel a bit constrained because I tend to base those picks on my photography first. For that reason, I'm implementing a new weekly (hopefully) post that features one track that strikes me particularly right that week. It will focus more on songwriting/lyrics than most of my posts and, if at all possible, I'll try to offer some interesting notes about the song/artist.

And because today is Thursday... I give you your first Thursday One-Hitter:


Patty Griffin - Moses
buy Living With Ghosts (1996)

Diamonds. Roses. I need Moses
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain
I don't necessarily buy any key to the future or happiness
But I need a little place in the sun sometimes, or I think I will die

Everywhere is somewhere and nowhere is near
Everybody got somebody with their wine and their beer
So I'm just this tragic figure in the corner over here
With an empty apartment and a best friend who is a queer

Everytime I see him he smiles
And he tells me how well he's walking these miles
But he never, ever asks a single thing about me
If I die, he'd hear about it eventually
Diamonds. Roses. I need Moses
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain

Everywhere is somewhere and nowhere is near
Everybody got somebody with their wine and their beer
So I'm just this tragic figure in the corner over here
Go home to an empty apartment and call a best friend who is a queer

Diamonds. Roses. I need Moses
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain
To cross this sea of loneliness, part this red river of pain

At its inception, Living With Ghosts, Patty's 1996 debut, was a hauntingly beautiful recording - simply Patty and her guitar. When her label wasn't quite satisfied with the studio production treatment it got, Patty suggested that A&M Records release the sparse original demo. That decision payed off. The world was therefore introduced to Patty Griffin the right way: bare, unfiltered, and consequently far more evocative than had her songs been shrouded by a full band.

That minimalist treatment was essential in making 'Moses' the power ballad that it is. The lyrics are edgy enough to keep this one from being covered by radio queens. Patty sings about the usual personal struggles: pain, loneliness, and happiness (or lack thereof), but it's the way in which she delivers her words that stops you in your tracks. I would go so far as to say that this is the most emotion I've ever heard someone express in song. In just over three minutes, Patty takes you on the rollercoaster ride that her heart is obviously well-accustomed to at this point.

If the level of overall emotion in her vocals were tracked on a scale of 1-10, Patty begins 'Moses' at a healthy 6. She desperately calls for Moses to help her "cross this sea loneliness, part this red river of pain." In verse 2, Patty falls to her lowest, a "tragic figure" questioning her solitary living and even her choice of friends. We follow Patty as she reveals her love interest and his blatant lack of interest in her. Dripping with spite, she sings, "if I die he'd hear about it eventually." But as Patty repeats the opening lines, all hell breaks loose. She busts out of that 1-10 scale to somewhere near 14 as a few stirring Oh's trail the verse. Once more through the refrain, she manages to gently lay the song back down, allowing the listener to catch his breath and realize the power of the song he just heard.