garth strips it of melancholy and reverses its meaning in a way that's almost perverse -- classic honky-tonk doubt and self-pity turned into a pop-bombastic drinking anthem
zackly--because it's not just a pop bombastic drinking anthem, it's also a pop bombastic redneck pride anthem. (don't forget that the fiddle in garth's version deserves no small amount of credit for the bombast. it may not keep up with garth, exactly, but darned if it don't hang awfully tough.)
― paper mohney, Friday, 20 February 2009 18:37 (4 years ago) Permalink
wow, those are great posts! One thing we haven't noted about "Don't Close Your Eyes" is how he lets his voice trail off at the end of each line on the verses (e.g. "and even now in my armmmmmmmmmmmmmmms..."). He holds the note a long time, so that his voice fades under the guitars but is still there. To cut to the case: it sounds like sobbing. I think it's extremely effective. I don't know antecedents for this off-hand but I suspect there are some: I'm listening to Lefty and George Jones looking, and will turn to 70s Elvis and Roy Orbison next: I have to listen closely to hear this.
― Euler, Friday, 20 February 2009 19:53 (4 years ago) Permalink
22 years ago today.
Listening to the last record today, what stands out right now is how he well he wears the mask of a miserable heartbroken man, and yet we know how it ended. His singing, as we've talked about before, has technique; it would be wrong to call him a raw singer. But when he sings of Tennessee courage, part of the beauty, if we can call it that, is that we know he knew of what he sang. To be able to sing so vulnerably, and really be that vulnerable: his voice takes my breath away too.
― Euler, Monday, 9 May 2011 16:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
23 years ago today.
― Euler, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 21:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
I missed the anniversary this year, but close enough.
― Euler, Tuesday, 14 May 2013 19:01 (1 week ago) Permalink