Interlude: Josh Ritter

This has nothing to do with my pictures, but let's take a little interlude - a little musical snack, if you will - and look at Josh Ritter.

A few months ago, Jeremy and I went to see The Swell Season in concert. They're one of my favorite bands, and we were so excited to go. I'm not sure what I expected for the opener, but I didn't expect them to be great (despite the Swell Season being wonderful - why wouldn't they have great people open for them?), so I came prepared to endure a no-name opener before I got to the real stuff. But then, I was pleasantly surprised by Josh Ritter - a country/folk/indie artist from Idaho with a bassist who has quite possibly the best mustache in the history of mustaches.

So, I felt the need to introduce you to him. One of my favorite songs from him, called "Girl in the War." I can't quite figure out what he's talking about - some online forums say he's talking about the idea of "all's fair in love and war," some people say he's expressing anti-war sentiment, some say he's using the metaphor of war to describe how it feels to be taken away from someone you love...but I think they're all a little too shallow. It seems like he's getting at something spiritual here - there are so many Biblical allusions, and the line "the keys to the Kingdom got locked inside the Kingdom" seem like an especially poignant reference to the way we often live in the church...but, then again, maybe I've just been spending too much time reading theology and biblical studies issues and can't get them off my brain. :) (Then again, can you ever spend too much time doing this?) All that to say, I'm not sure what, exactly, he's talking about - but something in me feels like he's talking to me...

Anyway - check out the song (and the out-of-sync video of the song) here. And...here are the lyrics:

Peter said to Paul,
"You know all those words we wrote
Are just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go."
But now talkin' to God is Laurel beggin' Hardy for a gun.
I gotta girl in the war, man I wonder what it is we done.

Paul said to Petey,
"You gotta rock yourself a little harder;
Pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire."
And I got a girl in the war, Paul the only thing I know to do
Is turn up the music and pray that she makes it through

Because the keys to the kingdom got locked inside the kingdom
And the angels fly around in there, but we can't see them.
I gotta girl in the war, Paul I know that they can hear me yell;
If they can't find a way to help, they can go to Hell.
If they can't find a way to help her, they can go to Hell.

Paul to Petey, "You gotta rock yourself a little harder;
Pretend the dove from above is a dragon and your feet are on fire"
But I gotta girl in the war, Paul her eyes are like champagne
They sparkle, bubble over, in the morning all you got is rain.
Sparkle, bubble over, in the morning all you got is rain.
They sparkle, bubble over, in the morning all you got is rain.


On a side note - hearing Josh Ritter live also allowed me to hear the best stage banter ever:
Guy in Crowd yells: "You seem like a nice young man!"
Josh replies: "Why thank you. Lord knows I try to be a nice young man..."

Awesome.