Josh Rouse has a way with closing tracks. He’s aware that an album should ebb and flow, and that you shouldn’t be able to confuse the first song with the last.
He tends to favor a quick start and a slow finish, with emotional peaks and valleys in between. This is one of just many ways to sequence an album, but it’s an effective one, and one he has returned to again ad again.
Today’s random selection is ‘Life,’ the closing tracks of Rouse’s best album, 2004’s Nashville. The album kicks off with the upbeat ‘It’s the Nighttime’ and ‘Winter in the Hamptons’ before seguing into some of the deeper, more ambitious material (‘Streetlights’ and ‘Sad Eyes,’ for example).
And he closes things out first with the bluesy ‘Why Don’t You Tell Me What’ and then this song, a simple little porch-swing ditty about looking back with a smile.
Sometimes it’s bad
It has its ups
It has its downs
Just sing a song and feel all right
Cause that’s just life
And if you’re lost
Don’t be sad
There are good times to be had
Just sing a song and let love shine
Cause that’s just life
That’s just life
That’s just life
So darling don’t cry
And when your hour
It is near
And your friends
They all are here
To share their love and to be kind
It’s just life
Oh and when you’re gone
You won‘t be back
I’ll remember those
Special times we had
I’ll sing this song and feel alright
Cause that’s just life
That’s just life
That’s just life
So darling don’t cry
Meet Me In Montauk 
Porch-swing ditty, huh? Not sure I’ve heard that before, but a nice description of the mood of this song.
very sweet lyrics