0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
or copy the link
Only With Laughter Can You Win, Rosie’s second full-length, elaborates on the quietly affecting intensity of her critically lauded debut. On it, she ads considerable emotional and instrumental depth with performances by family members and friends (including Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam).
BEAUTIFUL CD!!! I was flipping through books in a bookstore when the song “You and Me” started to play — it made me stop what I was reading and walk directly to the music section to find out what was playing. Her voice and lyrics were so raw and tender – I was totally blown away. I bought the CD and found it to be one of those rare CD’s you can play from start to finish and every song is consistent in mood — and it just flows…
Hey Daniel! I think you misinterpreted the meaning of that lyric in “Tell Me How.” The actual lyric is – “How am I to define what faith is to a child/when the only explanation lies within/how am I to tell them if they never follow Christ/that heaven doesn’t hold a place for them?” And, given it’s context in the rest of the song (which seems to be all about grappling with various weighty, personal questions) and the final line of the song (“Oh how? Oh how? Tell me how when I’m no better than them”), the sentiment here seems to be exactly the opposite of what you’ve walked away with. In other words, Rosie is questioning how she could be expected to hold such an untenable opinion when each individual’s interpretation of “faith” isn’t hers to define. It seems to me that she’s actually going a bit out on a limb here, bravely questioning the beliefs held by the religion she herself subscribes to. The lyrics are included in the album art – take a second to read them and see if this interpretation doesn’t fit a little better than anything else.
A beautiful record Rosie’s new record, like her last, is a collage of thoughts from her personal life. This one seems to take it a step further, though. She sings about everything from her family and friends to her beliefs and her fears. Sometimes music that is so intensly personal to the songwriter can alienate most other listeners. This record feels exactly the opposite. It is so warm and inviting that you feel like you are Rosie’s best friend after listening to it. The songs are written in such a humble way that the personal content in the lyrics only accentuates the mood of the record. If you’ve listened to Rosie’s last record ‘When We Were Small,’ you know what I’m talking about. This record has the same affect, but it goes further by asking some tough questions about being a musician, and just being human. Some of the subject matter is weighty, but never in a way that compromises that beauty or integrity of the record. I would go as far as to say that the new record is better than the last BECAUSE it is more personal.