I got a sense of the risks Miranda Lambert is taking on her new album, Four the Record, when I played the second track for my daughters.
The song, ‘Fine Tune,’ is a bluesy come-on with thick drums, a wailing lead guitar and a distortion effect on Lambert’s vocals — it’s more White Stripes than ‘White Liar.’ My girls, who are almost as big Miranda Lambert fans as I am, scrunched up their faces and said “Turn this off!” and “It hurts my ears!”
‘Fine Tune’ is one of the best moments on an album that is filled with nothing but great moments, but it’s so odd and unexpected that I’m sure it will have the same effect on Lambert’s legions of country fans as it did on my daughters. This isn’t Miranda Lambert!
Except it is. Over the course of four albums (and a group effort with Pistol Annies), Lambert has risen to superstardom by doing and saying whatever the hell she wants. Her new album, which I’m tempted to call her best, epitomizes that commitment.
You’ll find Lambert’s trademark sassy country-rock break-up songs here, but you’ll also find the bluegrass circus waltz of ‘All Kinds of Kinds,’ the old school bauble ‘Same Old You,’ the radio-ready broken-heart duet (with hubby Blake Shelton) ‘Better in the Long Run’ and the moving, ethereal album closer ‘Oklahoma Sky.’
Lambert tackles another single by one of her heroes — Gillian Welch’s ‘Look at Miss Ohio’ — with achingly beautiful results. On ‘Over You,’ co-written with Shelton about the death of his older brother, she channels the sadness of a 14-year-old who finds himself alone listening to records he inherited in the worst possible way.
Miranda Lambert has taken over my music landscape to an almost unhealthy degree. I rarely listen to anybody else these days. I had sky-high expectations for this album and it exceeded them in ways I couldn’t have predicted.
I’ve written a lot about discovering country music over the past couple of years, but that’s not really accurate. I’ve discovered Brad Paisley and especially Miranda Lambert, genre be damned.
‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ is a song that instantly clicked for me. It’s a clever dialogue between a mother who values decorum and a daughter who doesn’t give a damn.
I screamed his name ‘til the neighbors called the cops
I numbed the pain at the expense of my liver
Don’t know what I did next all I know, I couldn’t stop
Word got around to the barflies and the baptists
My mama’s phone started ringin’ off the hook
I can hear her now sayin’ she ain’t gonna have it
Don’t matter how you feel, it only matters how you look
Go and fix your make up, girl it’s just a break up
Run and hide your crazy and start actin’ like a lady
‘Cause I raised you better, gotta keep it together
Even when you fall apart
But this ain’t my mama’s broken heart
I wish I could be just a little less dramatic
Like a Kennedy when Camelot went down in flames
Leave it to me to be holdin’ the matches
When the fire trucks show up and there’s nobody else to blame
Can’t get revenge and keep a spotless reputation
Sometimes revenge is a choice you gotta make
My mama came from a softer generation
Where you get a grip and bite your lip just to save a little face
Go and fix your make up, girl it’s just a break up
Run and hide your crazy and start actin’ like a lady
‘Cause I raised you better, gotta keep it together
Even when you fall apart
But this ain’t my mama’s broken heart
Powder your nose, paint your toes
Line your lips and keep ’em closed
Cross your legs, dot your I’s
And never let ’em see you cry
Go and fix your make up, well it’s just a break up
Run and hide your crazy and start actin’ like a lady
‘Cause I raised you better, gotta keep it together
Even when you fall apart
But this ain’t my mama’s broken heart
Meet Me In Montauk 
So did the girls grow to love the song, or do they still demand that you turn it off?
This is a cool song, and, based on your review, I can see finding things in this album worth checking out. Maybe you should buy this as a Christmas gift for Amy so I can listen without owning up to the fact that I voluntarily listening to a country album:)
Great lyrics, hope you get this for Christmas Dana 😉
Maddie can share her copy; she got it as a birthday gift 🙂
I love this song, but what most intrigues me is how powerful Mama comes across. You’d expect (or, at least, I expected) to find yourself siding with the speaker/singer of the song and her hold no prisoners attitude. However, what I discovered instead was that I found Mama incredibly strong and admirable, as she managed to both mourn a lost relationship and keep it together simultaneously.
There’s something a little bit sad about the rebellious attitude of the daughter who feels as though something has been gained by not having to “act like a lady,” when, perhaps, something has actually been lost by not having CHOSEN to do so.
Regardless, I can understand why Lambert has so captivated you.
One more thing – “My mama came from a softer generation” is fascinating (and ironic) on so many levels…. since they actually were probably tougher in lots of ways, and had to be.
I definitely think the more sympathetic and reasonable character here is the mother. As she says in the chorus, “It’s just a breakup.” Of course that’s the last thing a broken-hearted person wants to hear.