Just to prep y‰’all, this post sort of relates to my last one, so check it out.

I remember the first time I saw this band. They opened for The Neighbourhood (another great band) at Summerfest in Milwaukee some years ago. It was my first concert ever, and I was not disappointed. I remember being there, waiting some seven hours for The Neighbourhood, and this band steps out on stage as the opening act. I remember turning to one of my best friends and saying, “Wow they‰’re really good, they should be a headliner.‰” Most people know them from the hit single “Way Down We Go‰Û. It‰’s very rare to see a folk/blues band that can make it big. The sound they bring is unique, and it reminds me of an older time, a simpler time.

I see the eerie whistling that starts this song as less creepy than it is laden with sadness, almost defeat. One should note that this is a rather simple song, with only a couple of instruments providing the accompanying music. However, this simplicity yields way to so much emotion. It‰’s essentially a song about losing trust in someone who once had a great impact on your life, and then trying to disconnect from them. This is a harder process than people may realize. A line that particularly resonated with me is when he says “we don‰’t want them.‰” It‰’s true, he isn‰’t the only person who has experienced this pain. No one would want to endure a pain like that again. I also love how this song seems to end at several points, but then continues on. It‰’s like the ups and downs we experience in a tumultuous relationship. To quote my favorite werewolf, Scott McCall, “life can’t ever be all good or all bad. You know, eventually things have to come back to the middle.‰” Life eventually balances out.

It‰’s funny how hurtful relationships start and then we, as human beings, continue to let these people step all over us. Is it ever impossible to forgive someone for doing something that crushes us so much? Should we? It‰’s also funny how much pain we endure before we decide it is enough. We hand so much power over to other people in our lives. Is it wrong to shelter ourselves from them? It amazes me how we put so much trust into people and yet are still surprised when these people betray us. I can‰’t say that I relate to this song in the exact way the persona does, but there are other types of love that can be taken advantage of, leaving you with the feeling of not being able to go on without them.

These are the thoughts that come to my mind when listening to this song. It‰’s not all hopeless and depressing though. It‰’s also great that we are privileged enough to experience love in the first place. If we lived a life without hurt or love or any feelings, then it wouldn‰’t be much of a life at all. Our vast range of emotions demonstrates the depth of human connection. As human beings, we have a need to connect, and sometimes we forge connections so deep that we are blinded to the ways that someone could hurt us. Human nature is an odd thing. We can never fully explain why we do the things we do, but that doesn‰’t stop people from continuing to try. Soul searching is important in order for us to know ourselves more completely, and this song is perfect for that. Some things to ponder. Peace out my little hippies.