Iron & Wine's "Thomas County Law"
Frequenting my playlist the past few days is "Thomas County Law," off of Iron & Wine's latest full length album "Beast Epic." The album as a whole is a return to singer/songwriter Sam Beam's original style of soft, whispered, folk recordings, and "Thomas County Law" is one of several standout songs.
NOBODY LOOKS AWAY
The song opens on the muted strings of Beam's guitar, its rhythm is bouncy and sharp. A bass and hand claps lock in before the first lyrics are sung, "Thomas County Law's got a crooked tooth." The words strike the listener as a counter to the basic order of the instruments, as if to say there is something askew in this world that seems perfect. Beam continues painting this image of a world true to itself, to a fault. At the end of each verse Beam sings the song's refrain, "Nobody looks away when the sun goes down," perhaps pointing at our attachment to beautiful places and people even though they won't last forever.
BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS
Through the first three verses, Beam's lyrics paint the listener a clear picture of a world full of human flaws and obsession before breaking into the bridge or middle eight, and what is perhaps my favorite lyric written by Beam.
"There are castles for kings,
There are birds without wings
I could whine about it all
But I won't."
In four lines Beam is able to convey the unfairness that is at the center of living in the world. There are those born into good luck, and those born into bad. He acknowledges it but stops himself from obsessing over the world that has skewed itself in favor of some over others.
DANCING SHOES
His resolve to get on in spite of the obstacles life has stacked against him follow through the final verse which adds two extra lines,
"Every dreamer falls asleep in their dancing shoes,
I may say I don't belong here, but I know I do"
Life is unrelentless and exhausting, but those who inspired to follow through on their dreams will chase them until all the time in the day has run out, and find their place in the world tired, weary, but always ready to seize each moment that approaches.
