Strawberry Wine

I have bought the trilogy of Ryan Adams' releases this year under his own name as well as those with the Cardinals.

There's this 8 minute (well, 7:58 to be precise) epic on his 29 album called Strawberry Wine

He is sounding so poignant here, somehow makes me think that you would only want to drink that in a lone bar along down an un-named road branching off a lost highway running across anonymous america. You have "our song" playing from a jukebox that is lit up so gay contrasting with your current state of mind. The bar man just poured you your drink and gave a nervous smirk when you shot him a weary look. You've lost count on the number of drinks you've had. Not that it matters. No one else is in the bar that stales with the stink of cigarette ash and cheap alcohol. Outside, your beat up pick up lays waste next to the sign post with a neon sign stating as if in some ominous tone "Last Bar In Next 60 Miles". It flashes because it's not working as it should. Like you.

But fuck, maybe strawberry wine is just some drug.

Anyway.

I'll read more into the lyrics some other time. It's a story. But unlike Collin Raye's irritating Love, Me, this is way better. Wait, why do I even want to compare the two?

Strawberry Wine

Last night the street collapsed on itself
In fact, it broke right in two
And I fell in
The strawberry vines
Into a pool of strawberry wine
Strawberry wine and clouds
Burning in the desert, surrounded in flowers
But the stems broke the armour
And the morning comes
Until it's all just the same things again
Oh god....

Don't spend too much time on the other side
Let the daylight in

Before you get old and you can't break out of it
My old friend
'Cause its getting winter, and if you want any flowers
You gotta get your seeds in to the ground
And I worry about you
Why? Because you want me to

Can you still have any famous last words
If you're somebody nobody knows
I don't know
Somebody go and ask Clair
She's been dead twenty years just look at her hair
Strawberry blonde with curls
She gets her hair done then she gossips
With the younger waitress girls at the bar
The old Irish rose
Drinking strawberry wine
Til it comes out her nose

She spent too much time on the other side
And she forgot to let the daylight in

So before you get old you'd better break out of it
My old friend
'Cause its getting winter and if you want any flowers
You gotta get your seeds in to the ground
And I worry about you
Why? Because you want me too

This fella downtown, he jumped off a bridge
He was angry about a letter he received from his friend
He fell in
To the arms of the most beautiful girl
That have ever, ever lived in the history of the world
And with nothing left to lose he got screwed
He sold his apartment before they made him move
Then he jumped straight in
To the San Francisco Bay
Now he lives on Molly's farm
Picking berries all day

Don't spend too much time on the other side
Let the daylight in

Marty was a kid when he learned to steal boats
His dad was a DJ on the radio
He fell in
To a life of riverboating crime
He's the man you see in prison
If you want strawberry wine
Strawberry wine and smokes
He sent a letter to his friend
Explaining one night on coke
He and Clair
Jumped right in to them strawberry vines
And lord knows you get lost
On that strawberry wine

Don't spend too much time on the other side
Let the daylight in

Now I'm getting old and I gotta break out of it
My old friend
'Cause its getting winter and if I want any flowers
I gotta get those seeds in to the ground
And if you worry about me
Don't bother
Why?
I'll be fine
I'm just sitting here laughing
Little old me and my
Strawberry wine

Ryan Adams

Indeed, ......don't spend too much time on the other side. Let the daylight in.....