It’s the ol’ tune a day thing again, though I haven’t been keeping up with the planned one per day schedule. This one’s been among my favorites since it was brand new in ’74. The whole album’s amazing, deemed culturally significant by the Library of Congress no less, but the title track is the one. It’s been on my frequently listened to list ever since, the only song by Browne with that status, though “Running On Empty” is also quite excellent.
For me it’s not the song itself in either case but the playing, the production, the quality of Browne’s voice, perfectly suited to his brand of southern California angst and regret, the subject matter for most of his material from the start. No, it’s not any of that, it’s the guys behind him, primarily David Lindley. Lindley has been a special hero of mine since even before this album. He did some great stuff on the prior album too, especially on “Red Neck Friend” and “These Days”, the former a song about jerkin’ it, believe it or not, the latter perhaps Browne’s best song ever. Great slide work was Dave’s specialty, and it’s there on both of those tracks, but not here.
No, on “Late for the Sky” it’s regular guitar, Dave’s real meat and potatoes, where he can do things I’ve not heard others even try. He could dazzle you by breaking out some weird middle eastern stuff mid-solo, or suddenly make his guitar sound like a heavily distorted mandolin with a Leslie rotating speaker whirling. None of that’s here either. Instead, after a few heartfelt verses about the usual stuff, in this case a breakup I guess, we get a very subdued, understated gem of a solo. It’s a solo that’s taken me decades and hundreds of listenings to understand. It’s not flashy, at all. It’s emotional is what it is. I recently discovered that I have those! Little ol’ me! Just like a normal! Probably had ’em all along! Who knew?!?
So now I get it fully. The solo I mean. Not much else, if anything. Maybe less now with this emotion malarkey to contend with! This solo will grab you by the heartstrings real hard if you’re someone with emotions like me now. What led to this post was hearing it a little while ago and really concentrating on the solo. I do that. I’ll either listen as background or I’ll actively listen, which can be either a breeze through kinda thing or a “let’s open up every pore, widen the ear holes, and see what gets through” kinda thing. I did the laser focused version of the latter, which had me literally in tears!
Tears! This solo has emotional power, heft, gravitas, whatever word tells you it’s big and weighty and powerful and whatnot! Maybe it’s just me, admittedly someone going through some trials and tribulations lately, but I think it’s right there in the vibrating air. Lindley’s found the exact right things to play with exactly the right phrasing and exactly the right tone, touch and feel to convey maximum emotion. I guess it’s sadness here, so no surprise that it resonates with me right about now…
I hope you’ll listen to this, and if you do please do a hard focus on the solo. Maybe it won’t have the profound affect on you that it’s had on me but you’ll hear one heckuva great guitar solo either way, so you’re a winner!
Anyone who comes here is a winner in my book. I’ll have plenty of time to thank each of you individually come Bloggie Awards season. So thanks ever so much for delighting me/us/it with your presence here today! I mean that sincerely!, And I never lie, plus I’m always right, so fear not! OK, you can fear stuff, just not me, alright? I’m scared enough of me for both of us! In any case, here’s the tune:
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