Best Songs of 2013 – #16
Phosphorescent is the stage name of Matthew Houck, a songwriter from Brooklyn by way of Alabama. He has released seven albums over the past decade, the most recent (titled Muchacho) in March of this year.
And no, I’d never heard of him either until I stumbled across this song on a website a couple of weeks ago.
The first song I was reminded of upon hearing ‘Song For Zula’ was Robbie Robertson’s ‘Broken Arrow.’ It has a similar slow burn and romantic sadness.
But beyond the great sound, I was particularly taken by the lyrics. This baby reads like fine poetry. I’m always excited to discover an artist who knows how to put words together like this.
Oh but I know love as a fading being
Just fickle as a feather in a stream
See honey, I saw love, you see it came to me
It put its face up to my face so I could see
Yeah, then I saw love disfigure me
Into something I am not recognizing
You see the cage it called; I said ‘come on in’
I will not open myself up this way again
I lay my face to the soil, and all my teeth to the sand
I will not lay like this for days now upon end
You will not see me fall, or see me struggle to stand
To be acknowledged by some touch from his gnarled hand
You see the cage it called; I said ‘come on in’
I will not open myself up this way again
You see the moon is bright in that treetop night
I see the shadows that we cast in the cold clean light
Now my feet are gold, and my heart is white
And we race out on the desert plains all night
See honey, I am not some broken thing
I do not lay here in the dark waiting for thee
No my heart is gold and my feet are light
And I am racing out on the desert plains all night
Some say love is a burning thing, that it makes a fiery ring
Oh but I know love as a caging being
Just a killer, come to call from some awful dream
Ah and all you folks, you come to see
You just stand there in the glass looking at me
But my heart is wild and my bones are steel
And I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free
Meet Me In Montauk 
This has a bit of a Springsteen vibe. I like it, though I’m not crazy about the prominanance of the drum machine. I think it pulls against the lyrics and what would otherwise be the “slow burn” you describe.