A record that helps me get out of bed.
According to Rolling Stone, early in the pandemic, Mavis Staples called up her buddy Jeff Tweedy and said, “Tweedy, have you heard them saying the title of our song on the news every minute on the minute?” And they released this outtake from 2017’s “If All I Was Was Black,” all money made going to My Block, My Hood, My City, a Chicago mutual aid group turned to the pandemic. My Block My Hood My City
It’s like they released the cut thesis, and somehow it works.
It’s really the simplicity of the thing. Two refrains acting as a verse and a chorus, a two line bridge to the same thing three (and a half) more times. But the simplicity allows it to build, subtly and unforgettably.
It starts off folkie, Tweedy’s acoustic, bluesy and off beat. Mavis quietly doubling her vocal as gravely front woman and aching back up. Then, the second time through, the band kicks in, backing vocals shimmer and bottleneck guitar finds some joy in expressing the pain of the thing.
“I gave up on hating you, just for hatin’ me/I gave up on hating you/A long time ago….”
Guitar sustain and hard fought desperation, “I need you/You need me.”
So the bottleneck shoots fire in the darkness, and the honky tonk keys kick up the dance. And it becomes a party to end all parties--when we know how much we depend on each other and celebrate how much we push each other yet save each other.
There’s a timidity here, like it’s a song afraid of itself, but maybe it should be. It’s tackling the hardest divisions we face, but it’s doing so knowing the stakes. That self-awareness more than redeems it.
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