Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #5
Any new Lucinda Williams album is a special treat, and 2008’s Little Honey proved to be her strongest collection since Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Much was made of the “happy” Lucinda that showed up on this album, as love songs filled the grooves usually occupied by hard luck tales. And to be sure, the album does contain some of her most lyrically upbeat material.
But the song that hit me the hardest on this album isn’t a love song or a happy song, and it’s not even a new song. It’s a somber ballad of regret written way back in 1985 but reaching the light of day for the first time last year.
‘If Wishes Were Horses’ is about as simple as a song gets… it’s verse-chorus times four in the country blues tradition. There’s no bridge, no complicated musical structure. It’s just five and a half minutes of heartache, as Lucinda’s sad, ragged voice pleads for a shot at redemption.
She does this sort of thing better than anyone, and I’m a sucker for it. I’m also a sucker for the work of the session players on this track, and the whole album. It’s the sort of sublime musicianship you find on all of Lyle Lovett’s albums and it’s a real treat here.
I didn’t mean ’em
Wish you were bringin’ your love back to me
Instead of leavin’
But if wishes were horses, I’d have a ranch
Come on and give me another chance
Come on and give me
Come on and give me
Come on and give me
Another chance
We used to drive through the canyons
Down to where
The land meets the sea
I never knew what I had back there
Till you went away from me
But if wishes were horses, I’d have a ranch
Come on and give me another chance
Come on and give me
Come on and give me
Come on and give me
Another chance
I was scared of standing on the edge
Of darkness lookin’ in
I hurt you bad and now I wish
We could begin again
But if wishes were horses, I’d have a ranch
Come on and give me another chance
Come on and give me
Come on and give me
Come on and give me
Another chance
Wish I could turn a sad and blue, blue day
Into something good
Wish I could somehow make it go away
I wish you understood
That if wishes were horses, I’d have a ranch
Come on and give me another chance
Come on and give me
Come on and give me
Come on and give me
Another chance
Meet Me In Montauk 
As fascinated as I am by your love of dance music, I am equally perplexed by your love of country music. I enjoy some of the Lucinda work I have heard, but I find this song fairly ordinary musically. And I can’t believe you would even compare the musicianship on this to ANY of the Large Band work, as this could be played by any semi-decent band in a hundred bars in Texas–Hell, I can even sit down and play this song after 1 listen (and that’s not bragging, it’s just that there’s not much there) And, is it me, or does Lucinda sound drunk on this song, or is that the point?
You can write off my opinion as coming from a non-country fan, and that’s fine, but i don’t see anything special about this song.
What a shocking reaction! 🙂
I better understand why you appreciate Lucinda as much as you do, as I’ve enjoyed many of the songs you have shared over the years. This one has that same quality that I like in many of those songs, and I find the title brilliant. How every musician, let alone every Country artist, hasn’t already penned a song about wishes being horses is utterly beyond me 🙂
Still, I have to admit that as I started playing the song for the first time, before scrolling down to read a single comment, I turned to Daniel and asked if he thought that the woman singing it sounded as though she were falling asleep (though I was truly wondering if she sounded drunk). I’m not sure why that slurring, sleepy, intoxicated delivery adds to this track. I’m certain I would like it even more if she sang it in her, ragged, yes, but lucid voice. Anyway, I found it amusing that Dana and I both thought she was drunk.
As for the musicians, they don’t strike me much one way or the other on this particular track. I agree, in general, that the work of such musicians if often unheralded. Still, it’s much easier to get excited about them when there’s a track that highlights the amazing talents of these artists (reflecting on Lyle’s big band songs). They certainly serve this song admirably; they’re just not so much the point of this song.
I guess serving the songs admirably is what I was getting at by singling out the session players. Lyle Lovett’s big band stuff probably isn’t the best comparison, because that stuff is often the focus of his songs, but I used it because it’s some of the same people and it’s the same sort of country/blues.
Lucinda’s voice has definitely sounded “drunker” on recent albums. If Dana wants gritty and non-traditional, he need look no farther!
This is my favourite Lucinda song. Brilliant vocals and musicianship.