Let Her Go...

This is the only song on the CD I've heard all the way through. I'm a huge Costello fan, and a Toussaint fan, too, but the truth is none of the snippets I've heard from the disc have really caught my attention. And I have to say that, despite my Costello fandom, I find his lyrics here a totally unnecessary tack-on to a beautiful ad moving piece of music. (As you may know, the song is basically "Tipitina," Professor Longhair's famous tune, done in a minor key, a shift that alters things into a mood that somehow captures post-Katrina-ness perfectly, for me anyway.) I was pretty interested in hearing "Ascension Day" because, while I haven't heard anybody else remark on this, I feel I'm able to hear some musical nods to "St. James Infirmary" in "Tipitina and Me." In any case, the full passage goes: "Let her go, let her go, God bless her. She hasn't been gone long enough for me to miss her -- 'cept for every minute of every hour of every when I wish I could possess her."
Come on. Is it just me being a bad mood, or isn't that sort of, you know, terrible?
Maybe the rest of the CD is better. Here's an NPR piece about it. And also just to reiterate: "Tipitina and Me" is fantastic, and you should check it out.


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