Jolene

This is not one of those songs where you need to break out your big boy speakers because aurally this song won't be impressing you. The sonic landscape isn't at all intimidating. There are no lush movements, no searing guitar solos, no soaring vocals of any kind but what this song does have is simplistic and pure beauty. The song is Jolene by Ray LaMontagne. It's a great story about a man that is bad to the core and there's no good in him, he knows this. The only good he's ever known was this woman named Jolene, the love of his life.

The song starts out with a pretty piano melody accompanied by an acoustic guitar. Ray comes in with his raspy voice singing "Cocaine flames in my bloodstream / Sold my coat when I hit Spokane / Bought myself a hard pack of cigarettes / In the early morning rain". The first time I heard those lyrics I knew I would always love this song. It gets even better when the chorus comes in when Ray sings "Jolene, I ain't about to go straight / It's too late / I found myself face down in a ditch / Booze in my hair / Blood on my lips / A picture of you holding a picture of me / In the pocket of my blue jeans / I still don't know what love means".

It's a lovely, moving song about a lost soul who has embraced that about himself but wishes he could have gotten it right just one time with Jolene. You have to ask yourself though, was it his losing her that turned him dark or was it his darkness that turned her away from him? Either way it's a beautiful song. Hope you agree.