When I saw Josh Ritter several months ago (just after he finished recording his new album Sermon on the Rocks, which will be released on Oct. 16.) he introduced his newest ditty off the upcoming release, “Getting Ready to Get Down.” It was a crowd mover, a bubbly track much in the style of “To the Dogs or Whoever” with rapid lyric spitting and a funky bass riff mixed with a hip drum beat. Ritter recently released it to the public (July 31), and it has shot up the iTunes ranks, so much so that it appeared on the front page of Hot Tracks today.
So, of course I need to share the track. Josh Ritter is one of my favorite artists creating music today. He blends several styles of folk/rock with intelligent lyrics. It’s easy to sing-a-long to most of his songs, and he carries the title of almost universally creating highly listenable tracks. “Getting Ready to Get Down” is that type of song.
I particularly enjoy the country guitar stylings featured in the middle of the song; it’s a bit different, and it may signal an intriguing dynamic on the new album. But, like always, Ritter’s most endearing quality is his lyric, and this song has a killer verse that I need to share.
“They said your soul needed savin’ so they sent you off to bible school
But you know a little more than they were sure was in the golden rule
Be good to everybody, be a strength to the weak
A joy to the joyful, the laughter in the grief
And give your love freely to whoever that you please
Don’t let nobody tell you ’bout who you oughta be
And when you get damned in the popular opinion
It’s just another damn of the damns you’re not giving”
Talk about bible puns and satirical paradoxes. Ritter tells a message with a punch, a socially liberal sermon from his own personal mount, and I am an eager myrmidon to Ritter’s church of great music.
Josh Ritter is no stranger to the Music Court’s end-of-the-year countdown. In 2010 he placed #4 with his ode to Annabel Lee, “Another New World.” Readers of the Music Court will recognize that I do maintain a sort-of music reviewer crush on Mr. Ritter, but let me assure you that … well … ok, the selection is inevitably biased. Although I cautioned all readers that the selections were obviously biased, I did judge songs based on a metric, and did so as objectively as possible. Honestly, I did not want any repeat performers from past years and I ended up with (spoiler alert!) two, but I believe this is more of a testament to each artist/band’s potency and productivity than any unconscious subjectivity. Truth be told, Ritter absolutely deserved a spot on this year’s list. “New Lover” encompasses a rare blend of masterful, spiteful lyrics and deceptive acoustic pacifism. Don’t be fooled; Josh Ritter has constructed a subtly epic “f*ck you” to his old lover.
Ritter released his seventh full-length studio album in March of this year. The album just continued his streak of excellent releases. Although some could aptly argue that all of his albums are excellent, Ritter hit his stride with The Animal Years and has since sailed through his Historical Conquests (his best album) and So Runs the World Away, where 2010’s #4 song appears. The Beast in Its Tracks, this year’s release, combines Ritter’s one-two punch – infectious acoustic instrumentation and witty, daedal lyrics that bounce effortlessly with the rhythm and make ink imprints in the mind of the listener.
“New Lover” represents Ritter’s split with Dawn Landes. The song so well portrays the thoughts and feelings of a forlorn lover that it would actually be a disservice for me not to include some of my favorite lines in this post. I would literally be depriving you of lyrical mastery. Future lyricists of the world, check out Ritter’s words for inspiration.
I can’t pretend that all is well, it’s like I’m haunted by a ghost There are times I cannot speak your name for the catchin’ in my throat, There are things I will not sing for the sting of sour notes.
Ritter starts the song with an inevitability. Breaking up is indeed hard to do, and one reason for that is that the individual haunts you and causes pain even when he/she is gone. He even compares the entire process to music (understandably, that is his trade) and it is true that a split carries the “sting of sour notes.”
Moving on, Ritter writes:
I’ve got a new lover now, I know that she’s not mine, I only want to hold her, I don’t need to read her mind, And she only looks like you when she’s in a certain light.
I don’t need to read her mind. Burn. But he still can’t escape his former love, as described by the looking like you portion. Throughout the song, Ritter sings that he hopes that his ex has also found happiness, but one can almost tell in the song that there is some facetiousness in his vocalization, which throughout the song is subdued but noticeably sardonic and pained – almost Dylan-like. How does he end the song, though?
I hope you’ve got a lover now, hope you’ve got somebody who Can give you what you need like I couldn’t seem to do. But if you’re sad and you are lonesome and you’ve got nobody true, I’d be lying if I said that didn’t make me happy too.
Tell me you didn’t smile. Tell me you haven’t felt this way. Ritter is human. You are human. He demonstrates the ineluctable post-breakup spite with such poise and finality. Just freaking perfect.
In “Lights,” the concluding track of Josh Ritter’s new album The Beast In Its Tracks,” Ritter sings “Every heart on Earth is dark half the time,” an apt line that seems to sum up Ritter’s unique brand of potent folk/rock and poetic lyric. Ritter, a realistic romantic, paints extraordinary love songs with settings that range from an Egyptian tomb to a government controlled missile silo, but balances these resplendent short stories with tales of lost love and regret. The heart is dark half the time.
But…it’s ablaze the other half of the time, and this vivacious beating organ was on display at Terminal 5 this past weekend when Ritter and his dashing Royal City Band wholeheartedly rocked a packed crowd with a satiating 20-song set.
After The Felice Brothers, a local New York folk/rock band, set a passionate tone with a vivacious opening act fit with sultry Dylan-like folk pieces and perfervid blues-laden songs fit with white-hot accordion, fiddle, and even washboard, Ritter came out alone at around 9 p.m. and immediately sang the soft opening notes of “Idaho,” his tribute to his home state.
One of the most striking features of a Josh Ritter performance is how happy he is to be on stage performing to a crowd. As a listener, you get the sense that he would be beaming even if he was performing to a group of 20-or-so listeners. He has a clear love for music, poetry, stories, and performance. This warmth was echoed by the audience that sang along to most of the songs – even providing the much-needed background to the end of one of Ritter’s most serene and melodic songs, “Change of Time” (below).
Ritter displayed why he is a true troubadour in his between-song monologues where he talked about his life – including a candid expression of divorce and love.
Each song was tinged with a calm force that washed over the crowd like a breeze. But of all the songs I wanted to hear, I was most excited for “The Temptation of Adam,” which was the song (off of the 2007 album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter) that first attracted me to Ritter’s music. This uber-creative love song that links the transition between attraction to deep (but somewhat apprehensive) love with a “top secret location 300-feet under the ground” (a missile silo) is as eccentric and zany as it is wondrous and impassioned. Ritter demonstrates his remarkable ability to write witty and brilliant lyrics that flow perfectly with the song. While I do not have a recording of his performance from this past Saturday, I do have one (Youtube) from 2011, also in Terminal 5.
Excellent concert! If Ritter and the Royal City Band is performing near your town, I seriously suggest you go to see them!
The Music Court 