Phoebe Bridgers’ annual Christmas release started with traditional fare. She kicked things off in 2017 with a lovely version of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,’ then released a duet of ‘Christmas Song’ with Jackson Browne, and a cover of the Simon & Garfunkel track ‘7 O’Clock News / Silent Night’ with Fiona Apple.
Her next three were solemn tales that happened to be set around the holiday: Merle Haggard’s ‘If We Make it Through December,’ The Handsome Family’s ‘So Much Wine‘ (which I posted on Tuesday), and today’s track, Tom Waits’ ‘Day After Tomorrow.’
This song, a rare socially conscious/protest tune from Waits, takes the form of a letter home from a soldier. Released in October of 2004, it was a reaction to the Gulf War. Waits had this to say about writing it:
“Well, I read the papers and all that and I got kids who are draft age and I guess you get to a point where if you say nothing that becomes a political statement too. I feel like my job is to maybe put a human face on the war.”
This song does that beautifully, and Bridgers certainly does it justice.
I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much here
I can’t wait to see you all
And I’m counting the days here
[Chorus]
I still believe that there’s gold
At the end of the world
And I’ll come home to Illinois
On the day after tomorrow
[Verse 2]
And it’s so hard and it’s cold here
And I’m tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
[Chorus]
What I miss, you won’t believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
[Verse 3]
I close my eyes every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
[Chorus]
I still don’t know how I’m supposed to feel
About all the blood that’s been spilled
Will God on his throne get me back home
On the day after tomorrow?
[Verse 4]
You can’t deny, the other side
Don’t want to die any more than we do
What I’m trying to say is, don’t they pray
To the same God that we do?
[Chorus]
Tell me how does God choose
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel? Who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?
[Bridge]
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
[Verse 5]
I am not fighting for justice
I am not fighting for freedom
I am fighting for my life
And another day in the world here
[Chorus]
I just do what I’ve been told
We’re just the gravel on the road
And only the lucky ones come home
On the day after tomorrow
[Verse 6]
And the summer, it too will fade
And with it brings the winter’s frost, dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
[Chorus]
I’ll be twenty-one today
I been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
And my plane, it will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
Meet Me In Montauk 