Ryan Adams- Afraid, Not Scared
i like artists who do melancholy well. i may be in the minority, but i gravitate toward slower, darker songs. i am more apt to listen to those songs when they mirror my mood because said songs, unlike many happy ones, make me feel better. mr. adams’ album love is hell provides the perfect soundrack to the all too frequent bad day. there are so many sparse gems for the downtrodden listener (or regular listener). you have the sweeter sad songs that talk more about regret or longing. you’ve got the darker songs that make you feel as though you’re dragging yourself along the bottom of the ocean. ‘afraid not scared’ is more sweet than not. it’s something of an unfortunate but soft surrender to circumstances; a slow fall into the dark.
these songs illustrate that there’s a certain beauty in sadness, and i believe that is no small lesson. i don’t want this to sound like a piece written for an undergraduate fiction class, but at times sadness can feel like thousands of black butterflies flitting about you. ok, now it does sound like something written for fiction class by a talentless aspiring poet. no matter. that’s what it feels like to me (on occasion). i’ll stop talking now.
Look at this ocean with everyone drowning
Idiots screaming and everyone sinking in slowly
We’re surrounded
In the yellow lights of the city wasted as bodies
In bed with somebody a touch away with nothing to do
We’re surrounded
I’m really dying here
I’m really dying here
And I’m afraid, no I’m scared
She started freezing, lungs all collapsing
The momentum is passing, but the moment is eating us whole
We’re surrounded
Put the guns in the water, they’re turning to vodka
Triggering nothing we’re sinking the sea takes the ship
And I’m really dying in here
I’m really dying in here
I’m afraid. I’m afraid. No, I’m scared. No I’m scared.
I’m just scared. Just let me down.
I’m getting really cold and I’m cold and I’m looking at you
You’re not moving
I’m getting really cold and I’m cold and I’m looking at you
You’re not moving
I’m getting really cold and I’m cold and I’m looking at you
And you’re not moving
-the skinny miracle
