My IPod artist of the week - M. Ward

He only sings when he's sad...and, he's sad all the time, so he sings the whole night through. Yeah, he sings in the day-time, too.

...those are lyrics from an M. Ward song called Vincent O'Brien. It's one of my top 10 favorite M. Ward songs and the inspiration of this blog's title (from a misheard lyric). The lyric I shared above is a pretty good thesis statement for Ward's music. It's sad stuff. But, it's simple, and its simplicity speaks loudly...at least, it does in my ears.

Lately, my ears can't get enough of Ward's scratchy, old-timer voice. If my wife had similar feelings toward the guy, perhaps my ears would get an even greater dose. ...who's complaining, though...nobody wants too much of a good thing.

Another song on my top 10 list, Deep Dark Well:

Deep, dark well
It's a deep, dark well
It's the deepest and the darkest well that i have ever found
Hear me calling you from deep down

Well i had wishes, i had dreams that i could not tell
So i dropped my silver dollars down that wishing well

Deep, dark well
It's a deep, dark well
It's the deepest and the darkest well that i have ever found
Hear me calling you from deep down

Well I’ve had visions, I’ve had dreams that could not come true
'Cause I leaned too close, that's when i fell in to my..

Deep dark well,
It's a deep dark well
It's the deepest and the darkest well that i have ever found
Hear me calling you from deep down

He sings the chorus three times...the only changes in the song are the two verses, which offer only a hint of the story. The rest is for the listener to fill in. It's a song about putting all your eggs in one basket and then being stuck in a desire that won't come true. It reminds me of the Springsteen lyric, Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse. There's one other clue in the song, "Hear me calling you". Maybe it's a plural you, as in, he's deeply depressed and calling for anyone to hear him. Or, maybe it's a singular you, and he's calling out to the woman who left him.

...also, Ward's PostWar is one of the best albums of 2006.

Here's some M. Ward YouTube love:





M. Ward lyrics (In case you're too lazy to type those 2.5 words into Google)