One of the neat things about Random Weekends is happening upon songs that I’ve long ago forgotten I own.
Today’s track is a cut from Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 1990 album Shooting Straight in the Dark. It’s a lovely ballad about the end of a relationship, specifically the man’s apathetic reaction to his lover walking out on him.
Bob Dylan has two songs represented over the next couple of weeks, and so too does Mark Knopfler. First up is Mary Chapin Carpenter’s take on Dire Straits’ ‘The Bug,’ a hit track from their final album, 1991’s On Every Street.
Carpenter released her version of the song on her 1992 album Come On Come On, a fine work that also includes ten original compositions and her hit cover of Lucinda Williams’ ‘Passionate Kisses.’
This song is a good case study for the old “can anything be country?” argument. I’d classify the Dire Straits original as more of a blues rock track, but it’s really not all that different from Carpenter’s version, which is clearly country.
Meet Me In Montauk 