Come On Come On - Mary-Chapin Carpenter

...see right through
You come an go baby, like the rhthym of the blues."

4. I Feel Lucky
I love this song. I will say that right off. This is a funny song, all about bucking the trend. It follows the story of somebody, who's stars say everything is going to hell, who still decides to buy a lottery ticket. Fantastic, although the references to American culture and other country singers could leave some people scratching ...
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12. Come On, Come On
This is a lovely tune, beautifully written, about remembering that first time and how you feel. It doesn't preach, it doesn't praise, it doesn't say anything other than what kind of things spark off those memories. (Just for info, the title is not some veiled reference to the actual act, it is actually part of the remembered chat up line)
Its a fantastic piano driven tune, with only the quietest of guitar ... more

This album (Mary's fourth) was released in 1992. I bought it after hearing her sing a number on the Country Music Association Awards, silly I know as generally I set myself a three single rule. That's when you have to hear three songs from the same album, that you like, before you feel an album is worth buying (rule doesn't apply if you already have an album by the artist).

It contains 12 tracks of really good material.

Mary falls into the modern country singer category, thats a singer/songwriter who doesn't feel the need to sing about trucks, death or heartbreak in every song.

THE TRACKS

1. The Hard Way
A nice little number. Very light, yet there is an undertone of melancholy about the lyrics. Mary's trademark tones are al over the song (which she wrote) and the chorus has a great hook.
A country song which manages to avoid the cliches. Some fantastic playing o the track and backing vocals which boast the likes of The Indigo Girls, and Shawn Colvin.

"And the world won't stop and actions speak louder,
Listen to your heart, and your heart might say
Everything we got, we got the hard way."

2. He Thinks He'll Keep Her
The title refers to an American television advert from the seventies. The voiceover in the advert describes how the wife does everything for her man, and the catch line was "He thinks he'll keep her."
But what if the wife rebels?
And hence this song, again written by Mary (this time with Don Schlitz). A song of suburban, marital dissatisfaction. A great tune again, very bouncy and still manages to carry its message well.

"She packs his suitcase, she sits and waits,
With no expression on her face,
When she was thiry-six she met him at the door,
She said, "I'm sorry, I don't love you anymore."

3. Rhythm of the Blues
A great almost hispanic feel to this (with great percussion and a gentle guitar beating out a riff behind the lyrics).
A great song about the loneliness of casual relationships.

"On some pretence paper-thin that I can see right through
You come an go baby, like the rhthym of the blues."

4. I Feel Lucky
I love this song. I will say that right off. This is a funny song, all about bucking the trend. It follows the story of somebody, who's stars say everything is going to hell, who still decides to buy a lottery ticket. Fantastic, although the references to American culture and other country singers could leave some people scratching their heads.

"It only took a minute for my finger to find
My daily dose of destiny under my sign
My eyes just about popped outta my head
It said the odds are stacked against you girl
Get back in bed."

5. The Bug
A Mark Knopfler track this, and it certainly sounds like it. It has a ring of Dire Straits-cum-delta blues about it. That doesn't make it a bad track. It is a good number, with a positive message about trying no matter what. Again, certain cultural references will show just how different we are from the US.

"Sometimes you're the windshield,
Sometimes you're the bug."

6. Not Too Much To Ask
A fantastic duet with country singer Joe Diffie (Mary and Don writing this time again), opening with the familiar tones of country instrument (dobro slide and guitar).
It is a simple conversation between two lover. Beautiful.

"(Mary) To hear you speak my name, to see you search my eyes,
To feel you touch my hand, it more than satisfies,
(Joe) If I was not the first, just say I'll be the last,
It's too much to expect, but it's not too much to ask."

7. Passionate Kisses
Written by Lucinda Williams, this is a great upbeat number. A track for dreamers, who just refuse to settle for what they have. The kind of thumping tune you exect to hear live in a bar, the drums really drive this tune into your head.

"Is it too much to demand, I want a full house and a rock'n'roll band,
Pens that won't run out of ink and cool quiet and time to think
Shouldn't I have this, shouldn't I have this
Shouldn't I have all of this and passionate kisses."

8. Only a Dream
At least once in your life you hear a song that makes you want to cry and you can't explain why(yes, even as a guy this is true). This song is one of mine. Childhood, older siblings (of which I have none), loss, change, sadness. The song has it all. It is fantastic and it moves me.
Thats all I want to say.

""The day you left home you got an early start
I watched your car back out in the dark
I opened the door to your room down the hall
I turned on the light and all that I saw
Was a bed and a chair and a couple of tacs
No sign of someone who expects to be back
It must have been one hell of a suitcase you packed."

9. I Am a Town
Not one of my favourites tis song. Written by Mary it is merely the thought of a small town, ignored by anybody outside, and how it looks at itself. Lovely images, but it doesn't catch the imagination of my very British mind.

"I am peaches in September and corn from a roadside stall
I'm the language of the natives, I'm a cadence and a drawl,"

10. Walking Through Fire
This has a very country hook to it, and sounds like it might have been recorded by the likes of Trisha Yearwood, or Leann Rimes (not a bad thing really). A rippling country riff for the guitar and backing again from the likes of the Indigo Girls. A great way of describing trying to keep a love going, when you've got doubts.

"I know you're scared,
but no one's spared
When you play with matches."

11. I Take My Chances
This could almost be a Mavericks' song, with a great bouncy riff and a sixties-ish guitar riff.
It deals with following your own path, despite the possible costs. Again Mary provides some great images and quotable lines.

"I sat alone in the dark one night, tuning in by remote,
I found a preacher who spoke of the light, but he had brimstone in his throat,
He'd show me the way according to him, in return for my personal cheque,
I flipped the channel back to CNN and I lit another cigarette."

12. Come On, Come On
This is a lovely tune, beautifully written, about remembering that first time and how you feel. It doesn't preach, it doesn't praise, it doesn't say anything other than what kind of things spark off those memories. (Just for info, the title is not some veiled reference to the actual act, it is actually part of the remembered chat up line)
Its a fantastic piano driven tune, with only the quietest of guitar accompaniment.

""It's a need you never get used to
So fierce and so confused
It's a loss you never get over
The first time that you lose."

This is great album and is available for less than £6 at 101cd.com.

It is well worth checking out, even from the library, for anybody who is interested in a good collection of well written imagery and emotion. 

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