"Goodnight America" - Mary-Chapin Carpenter

It turns out that I've been sick for the last few days.  My extreme fatigue since Thursday came from illness, not laziness.  I felt so much better today - as my daughter said, "Like I'm bouncing off the walls."  She was sick too, but she had more symptoms besides the fatigue so it was more obvious.  She felt better and was bouncing off the walls yesterday.

So, I promptly did way too much today, and I'm exhausted again.  But in a good way.

However, I've blogged the last seven days which I think is a record for me.  So, I didn't want to skip today.

While driving home today, I was listening to Mary-Chapin Carpenter's most recent CD, Between Here and Gone.  The song that really hit me this time was "Goodnight America."  Overall, it's a quiet song, with a gentle guitar ostinato that continues for the entire song.  The ostinato deftly moves the song along - Mary-Chapin Carpenter's songs, regardless of how slow they are, always move. 

I'm standin' at a traffic lights somewhere in West LA
Waitin' for the sign to change then I'll be on my way
The noise, the heat, the crush of cars
Just drives me up my nerve
And someone yells and blasts their horn
And pins me to the curb

I'm a stranger here, no one you would know
My ship has not come in but I keep hopin' though
And I keep looking past the sun that sets above
Saying to myself, goodnight America

She sings about West LA, Houston, Atlanta, Charleston, and she eventually ends up in NYC - evoking each with just a few words.  I love this phrase in the fourth verse (emphasis mine):

I'm looking with the Pilgrims as upon some promise land
Dreaming with my heart outstretched as if it were my hand

That line gives me a very reaching sort of feeling.  Wonderful.

She ends with:

I'm a stranger here, no one you would know
I'm from somewhere else, but isn't everybody though
Don't know where I'll be when the sun comes up
Until then sweet dreams, goodnight America

Go ahead.  Listen to a sample  (See, I even gave you another link so that you don't have to exhaust your fingers by scrolling up).

The picture is "arizona nightfall" from Lorrie McClanahan's photos on Flickr.  She's a painter/muralist with a renewed interest in photography - and with wonderful photos.

Another beautiful, evening driving photo is "torn" from tearapen's photos on Flickr.

And, an interesting...well...evening car photo - "Bug Landing" from Zmanphoto's photos on Flickr (you can just wander Flickr forever...)

Comments

[Rachel W]

My friend down the way told me that her sister and boyfriend back in the day used to sing at open mics. They had a friend that did that too in the area (No. Virginia) and someone discovered her. It was M.C. Carpenter. I think my friend knew her. The reason why she was telling me this is because we were talking about how someone may have good news to tell a friend and then they get jealous instead of happy for you. My friend said that her sister and boyfriend hated her after she made it big just because they were jealous.

[M Light]

That's sad. You would hope they could be happy for her.

We saw MC Carpenter in Richmond last year, and the singer who was opening the concert was one of MC Carpenter's neighbors in the mountains. I love it when well-established artists encourage others.