Song of the Day #6,616: ‘I Can’t Wait’ – Phoebe Bridgers

Continuing my ranking of the songs on Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend

#9. ‘As Above’

The final song (before a brief reprise of the title track) finds Bridgers drifting through her past, present, and future while watching Hot Tub Time Machine over a seat mate’s shoulder on a plane. Its delicate piano-backed verses give way to an explosive bridge before settling back into a moment of resignation: “As it was, so it goes.”

#8. ‘Liberty Tree’

One of two songs on Lost Weekend that dip into country, this is a tender song about Bridgers’ relationship with Bo Burnham. It starts with them playing mischievously in a photo booth at the Liberty Tree Mall in Burnham’s hometown, and ends with this morbidly sweet sentiment: “Don’t die, Bobby, before I die… it feels so good to have you in my life.”

#7. ‘I Can’t Wait’

On this song, Bridgers comes to terms with the dueling aspects of her own personality, merging her internal Jekyll and Hyde during the bridge (with Geese frontman Cameron Winter supplying backing vocals). She also delivers a line that might sum up this whole album, and the journey she’s been on during the six years since her last solo release: “I’m not good, but I’m better.”

🎵 Phoebe Bridgers Deep Dive 🎵
→ My exploration of Phoebe Bridgers’ catalog

[Verse 1]
Baby, baby, if you leave me
Can you take me with you?
I can sit in the back seat
Sometimes when the night is quiet
I’ll turn all the lights on
Like the end of the movie

[Chorus]
I can’t wait, but I’m waiting
I’m still up, but I’m fading

[Verse 2]
Not so slowly getting older
California sober
I live by the water
Go dancing with my understudy
Could be anybody, make me an offer

[Chorus]
I’m not good, but I’m better
Missed my cue, but whatever
It’s now or never

[Bridge: Phoebe Bridgers & Cameron Winter]
All my life
Side by side
Hyde Jekyll Hyde
Finally together
You can change your mind
But you can’t change mine
Hyde Jekyll Hyde
You and I forever

[Verse 3]
Walking early in the morning
While you’re still sleeping
And the credits are rolling
I don’t know why I’m crying
Until we’re dead or die trying

Song of the Day #6,615a: ‘The Outside’ – Phoebe Bridgers

Continuing my ranking of the songs on Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend

#13. ‘Other Plans’

The last song written for the album, and an exercise by Bridgers in writing a melody containing only one note. It’s a successful enough experiment that my tin-eared self didn’t catch that limitation until I read about it.

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Song of the Day #6,615: ‘Panorama’ – Phoebe Bridgers

A month or so back, I did a two-week Phoebe Bridgers Deep Dive to prepare for the release of her new album, Lost Weekend. Now that album has arrived, and it’s her first release that I received as a bona fide fan.

This week I’ll rank the tracks on Lost Weekend according to my preference and process the album as a whole while I’m at it.

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Song of the Day #6,614a: ‘Higher Love’ – Steve Winwood

Steve Winwood owned the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of August 30, 1986, with ‘Higher Love,’ the lead single of his fourth solo album, Back in the High Life.

Surprisingly, this is the first Steve Winwood song featured on the blog (though I did use a Traffic song in a post about Avengers: Endgame in 2019). Winwood has had a very successful career, as a member of three popular bands as well as a solo artist. I just haven’t found the right time to write about him.

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Song of the Day #6,614: ‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine’ – Lou Rawls

Throwing back to the week of August 29, 1976, we find the Bee Gees’ ‘You Should Be Dancing‘ claiming the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 in its sole week atop the chart.

At #2 was soul singer Lou Rawls with ‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,’ his top-charting single on the Hot 100. The track reached #1 on the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts but peaked at #2 on this one.

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