Song of the Day #2,787: ‘If My Love Could Kill’ – Lucinda Williams

lucinda_ghosts_highway_20We’re coming into the home stretch of The Ghosts of Highway 20. Just three songs left, haters! As for me, I can’t wait to dive back into this album from the start and really learn each of its songs.

Track five of Disc Two promises to shift the tone a little bit from the more upbeat (comparatively) songs we’ve heard so far this week. ‘If My Love Could Kill’ is about her father’s death after a battle with Alzheimer’s.

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Song of the Day #2,786: ‘Can’t Close the Door on Love’ – Lucinda Williams

lucinda_ghosts_highway_20Much to the relief of some of my regular readers, I’ll be closing out my track-by-track look at Lucinda Williams’ The Ghosts of Highway 20 this week, featuring the album’s final four songs.

I understand the criticism of those who find the songs too slow, or Williams’ vocals too slurred, but I don’t share it. Williams’ voice is like Bob Dylan’s in that it’s not technically great but it’s exactly the right instrument for her songs.

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Song of the Day #2,785: ‘Maureen’ – Fountains of Wayne

outofstateIt’s been five years since Fountains of Wayne’s last album release, Sky Full of Holes.

Quick visits to the band’s website, social media accounts and Wikipedia page reveal very little information about their current activities. They don’t appear to have split up but neither are they touring or recording. I hope they haven’t split up, because these guys are among the bets pop songwriters going.

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Song of the Day #2,783: ‘Factory’ – Lucinda Williams

lucinda_ghosts_highway_20I mentioned that the title track of Lucinda Williams’ The Ghosts of Highway 20 reminded me of Bruce Springsteen. Well, here she drives that connection home by covering a Springsteen tune.

‘Factory’ is a song from Springsteen’s 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town, and its story of a man who toils away at a factory fits in nicely with the rustic sadness of the rest of this album. Williams recorded the track as a tribute to her father-in-law, who held a job a lot like the one described in the song.

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