Single Saturdays: November 19th, 2022
Single Saturdays is Five Cent Sound’s new weekly roundup, where our staff members share a song that they’ve fallen in love with and make their case for why others should give it a listen.
“SMOKE AND WHISKEY” – SAMANTHA MCKAIGE
Payton Cavanaugh
Okay, Single Saturdays, let’s get real. Have you ever gone through one of the most shattering breakups? I’m talking zero hours of sleep; reflecting on every memory; packing up every physical relic that carries even the smallest remnant of the person who once made you feel whole; wondering how you can feel such immense and incredible love for someone, yet walk away for the best of both of you? To make it even worse, you feel like you’re the only one hurting?
Yeah, same – for you, me, and Samantha McKaige. Her recent single “Smoke and Whiskey” encapsulates the bittersweet feeling of moving on and leaving someone you carry so much love for, but knowing you’re just on different paths, and that’s okay. The hardest part is being the one to walk away. I want you to know that you’re stronger than you know and infinitely more capable than you may credit yourself to be.
McKaige’s single flows through the motions. To be fully transparent, these feelings are something all too familiar to me, especially right now.
Colorado tracks kept me looking at my past, so my first night, I got drunk and sang the blues.
It’s hard to move on, it sucks wholeheartedly. It feels like a never ending cycle where you’re fine one day and in a puddle the next, but healing is not linear. There is no timeline to moving on because when someone leaves an impact on your life, no matter how vast, it is an immovable imprint.
Leaving feels so wrong when the guilt draws longer, I've never seen someone fail so hard at being stronger.
While this experience, these feelings, and the hurt of it all absolutely stings like no other, I’m here to tell you that we’ve all been there, and songs like these are proof of just that.
My hands on your mind were all I ever wanted, but instead yours stay stained with gin that left you haunted.
So in the words of McKaige...
Leave me on this road to nowhere, I’ll keep going.
“BETWEEN THE BARS” – ELLIOTT SMITH
LILY PRICE
“Between the Bars” by Elliott Smith, released in 1997, is an evocative song about addiction. Smith, who struggled with addiction himself, writes this song from a third person perspective as if the bottle of alcohol is speaking to him though music. It is persuading him, seducing him, to slip deeper into his addiction. He writes –
Drink up with me now and forget all about / The pressure of days, do what I say.
– indicating that alcohol is providing him with false promises and distractions from the harsh reality he would have to face while sober. Smith’s song indicates an allurement of alcohol and drugs and just how easy it is to give in to the entrancing temptations of intoxication. The title of the song, “Between the Bars,” further emphasizes addiction as a type of prison, a cage — one that is easy to fall into, but almost impossible to leave.
The true sadness of this song comes from the apparent fact that Smith is aware that the bottle is lying to him, providing him with “Promises [it will] only make,” yet there is still requited love shared between the two, hence the romantic tone of this song. “Between the Bars” remains one of the most influential and emotional songs from Smith’s discography and details an incredibly intimate understanding of why addicts have such a hard time getting clean.
“EX-GIRLFRIEND CLUB” – MARY RUTH AND MADDIE SUE
ROSE LUCZAJ
Dating one musician is hard enough. There’s the constant need for creative validation, an unspoken obligation to promote their gigs, and the ever-present fear that you could be the subject of their next song. But what happens when two musicians date each other? Berklee seniors Mary Ruth and Maddie Sue are no strangers to this world, and encapsulated the experience perfectly in their most recent single, “Ex-Girlfriend Club.” This angsty pop-rock anthem puts listeners in the shoes of the two singers, who briefly dated different members of the same band, and expresses the struggle to maintain your own artistic identity while keeping up with the life of another creative. Not only does this song have relatable lyrics, vibrant instrumentals, and a killer hook - “Cheers to the Ex-Girlfriend Club!” - it also carries with it a message of empowerment, and a need for space in a healthy relationship.
Not sure if you’re ready to join the Ex-Girlfriend Club? Mary Ruth and Maddie Sue have provided some words of wisdom to help you gain some clarity.
Draw boundaries between your professional lives and your relationships. If these boundaries are being pushed, then it might be time to re-evaluate.
You need your own life! Don’t let them stifle your creativity. In the wise words of Taylor Jenkins Reid, “Art doesn’t owe anything to anyone. Songs are about how it felt, not the facts.” So write those songs!
If they don’t let you into their shows for free, it’s a red flag.
“love on the moon” – catie turner
SYDNEY JOHNSON
“American Idol” can be attributed to discovering many of the great artists in the music industry. However, there have been many non-winners who are either just as popular or at least deserve to be. I was distraught when Catie Turner was eliminated in 2019 – from the beginning, I found myself drawn to her as an artist because of her bubbly personality and her creative energy. She auditioned with her original song, “21st Century Machine,” and Katy Perry called her “a spectacular songwriter.” From the start, I knew she would create music I could listen for forever. When her second EP, Heartbroken and Milking It, was released during July of 2021, I was immediately reminded of how much I adore her. The EP as a whole talked about the low points of a relationship and the inevitable break up, and felt the way I imagined a first heartbreak would. Catie Turner has this ability to paint a beautiful picture with both her melodies and her lyrics.
“Love on the Moon” is the third track on Heartbroken and Milking It and is a little over two minutes long. It conveys being so in love with someone that you promise to change to try and be better for them so that they won’t leave. You can hear the pleading in Turner’s voice as it is backed by the melody of a simple acoustic guitar. I remember showing the song to my friend, and she assumed it was supposed to be happy. I told her that was fair, because Turner does nothing but compliment the person and confesses how much she loves them. But as we get to the hook and the second verse, it becomes obvious she is only saying those things as a way to justify why they would want to leave her. Turner is actively expressing trying to do things the other person enjoys so that she can bring enough to the table and be cared for in the way she desires. The central metaphor of the song is if the person wants space, she can give them the moon and stars. Her voice becomes more desperate as we get to the ending verse:
‘Cause look at the stars lying here in my arms / Why would you wanna be that far apart? / I can go first to the end of the earth just to prove / I got space here for you.
This song is a standout on the EP, because it is less produced and feels more intimate. I would recommend this song if you need to sit and process your emotions or even if you just want a pretty melody for background music.
“Gold Watch and Chain” – Emmylou Harris AND Linda Rondstat
Ivory Schulte
Emmylou Harris’s 1980 cover of The Carter Family’s country classic, “Gold Watch and Chain,” is an immediate distillation of pure joy. Over three minutes and some change, Harris and frequent collaborator Linda Rondstat create a song that is the sonic manifestation of the exuberance, desperation, and joy of loving someone with your whole heart.
The soft, yet powerful, harmonies are enough to melt through even the hardest of shells, and storm through anyone’s barricades. Harris’ transcendent wailing strikes an unforgettable chord with anyone who’s ever felt the sheer ecstasy of being in love, and the aching, gut-wrenching desperation that comes with it:
The whole world would seem sad, love, without you / Tell me now that we never will part.
While the original song from The Carter Family is a morose, controlled ballad with a distinctly distant timbre, Harris transforms it into a jubilant masterpiece, bursting at the seams with bright-eyed love. Harris and Ronstadt pour their hearts out, singing:
Oh the white rose that blooms in the garden/It grows with the love of my heart/It bloomed on the day that I met you/It will die on the day that we part.
Even if you have a fervent aversion to country music, this song will surely forge a deep and lasting connection, even with the most ardent skeptics.