Singer, Songwriter Provides Inspiration for Many

Staff Writer

Courtesy of Patty Griffin

Patty Griffin

   Honestly, what makes a song a song?

   A song would be nothing without lyrics. A singer/songwriter knows this more than anyone. Their words are honest and to the point. Old Town, Maine-native Patty Griffin masters this task.

   With seven albums and over 150 songs to her name, Griffin showcases her talent on every track. Her albums include “Living With Ghosts,” “Flaming Red,” “Silver Bell,” “1,000 Kisses,” “A Kiss In Time,” “Impossible Dream” and “Children Running Through.” From her gift of words to her impressive guitar skills, she demands your attention.  Mixing folk, country, blues and old-school rock ‘n’ roll, Griffin lays it all on the line.

   Griffin, despite massive talent, remains unknown to many. If it were not for the constant praise given by Kelly Clarkson, I would be right there with everyone else asking, “Who is Patty Griffin?”

   Because I trust Clarkson’s taste in music, I looked up Griffin and have been hooked ever since.  I discovered along the way that Clarkson is not the only artist to sing Griffin’s praises as he or she performs covers of her songs. Artists on her list of admirers include Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Tyler Hilton, Bethany Joy Galeotti, Emmylou Harris, Jessica Simpson, the Dixie Chicks, and Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp of The Wreckers.

   Griffin’s voice, pure and enchanting, pulls you in. She leaves you clinging to every word. The second she opens her mouth you unknowingly stop everything and listen as she sings.

   To span Griffin’s catalog, I am counting down eleven of my favorite tracks:

10. “Getting Ready”

  “Oh, baby, I'm getting ready / I'm getting ready to let you go / My hands shake, my heart's unsteady / Oh, how I once loved you so."

   The song, upbeat and energetic, serves as a bitter kiss goodbye to someone who must be left behind. With guitars and drums to accompany her, Griffin tells it like it is. Miranda Lambert included a cover of this song on her album “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

9.  “Nobody’s Cryin’”

   “But darling, I wish you well / On your way to the wishing well / Swinging off of those gates of hell / But I can tell how hard you're trying / I just had this secret hope / Though sometimes all we'd do is cope / That somewhere on the steepest slope / there's an endless rope / And nobody's crying."

   I have never heard an artist sing a song so painful that you can literally hear the heartbreak through her voice. On a song about wanting someone you care about to wake up and stop whatever harmful thing they’re doing and simply get well, Griffin can freeze you in your tracks. This song holds something magical and if you let it, it can change your life for the better.

8.  “Sweet Lorraine”

   Lorraine’s story, perhaps one of the saddest ever told, holds nothing back. The lyrics, brutally honest and depressing, tell a story that begs to be told.

   “Her mother was working and never was home / Lorraine carved out a little life of her own / Lorraine started working, Lorraine went to school / Her mother threw stones at her on the day that she moved / Now isn't that a very strange thing to do / For someone who never really wanted you / Lorraine, sweet Lorraine."

   The story continues with a verbally abusive father as Lorraine attempts to move on with her life.

7. “Top of the World” and “Goodbye”

   “I wished I could've stood / Where you would've been proud / But that won't happen now / There's a whole lot of singing / That's never gonna be heard / Disappearing every day / Without so much as a word / Somehow."

   The importance of time and chance speak loudly in "Top of the World," which the Dixie Chicks re-recorded.  Listening to the lyrics about a time that is gone, you learn to appreciate the time you have now and to cherish it while it lasts.  Second chances do not always exist.

   “I wished I'd have known you / I wished I'd have shown you / All of the things I was on the inside."

   The song “Goodbye” ties with “Top of the World,” and both bring something incredible to the table.

   “Occurred to me the other day / You've been gone now a couple years / Well, I guess it takes a while / For someone to really disappear / And I remember where I was / When the word came about you / It was a day much like today / the sky was bright, and wide, and blue / And I wonder where you are / And if the pain ends when you die / And I wonder if there was / Some better way to say goodbye."

   The song gives you a moment to think about all the times you’ve lost someone and allows you to honor him or her with this farewell song. Country-singer Martina McBride recorded her own version of this song.

6. “Up and Flying”

   “Mostly I'm alone a lot / Mostly I guess you're not / Forgive me if I stop and stare / I was just unprepared / That the world has fallen at your feet / You hardly even missed a beat / And every day those wings beat a little stronger / And every night for me just gets a little longer / You've gone on a million miles from here / Swept up like a feather in the air / You make it look so easy, it doesn't seem quite fair."

   Griffin never released this song, but it was passed on to Reba McEntire, another marvelous storyteller through song. With each line, you relive the story of how hard it is to move on after a relationship ends.

5. “No Bad News”

   When you’ve had a string of bad days, when a good one finally comes along, you do not want anything to spoil it. Griffin wrote this song around that.

   “Don't bring me bad news, no bad news / I don't need none of your bad news today / You can't have my fear, I've got nothing to lose / You can't have my fear, I'm not getting out of here alive anyway / And I don't need none of these things / I don't need none of these things I've been handed."

   The message struck a chord with Clarkson, who struggled for artistic integrity with her label, something Griffin strongly represents.  She performed this song at the last show of her sold-out theater tour promoting her artistic third album.

4. “Time Will Do the Talking”

  “You were so cruel / I hated being your fool / So I got a little bit more mud on my face / But the years will bring a bigger scheme of things / And make a pretty memory out of my disgrace."

   This song teaches you to forget everything.  What seems hard now, in time will not matter.  She teaches a lesson we all need to learn.

   “Oh baby don't you know that the time will do the talking / Years will do the walking / I'll just find a comfy spot and wait it out / Time will do the talking / Years will do the walking / Time will tell you baby what you can't hear now.”

3. “Up to the Mountain” (MLK Song)

   Written as a response to the emotions from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” given in Memphis. In 1968, this gospel ballad becomes one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

   “I went up to the mountain / Because you asked me to / Up over the clouds / To where the sky was blue / I could see all around me / Everywhere / Sometimes I feel like / I never been nothing but tired / And I'll be working / 'Til the day I expire / Sometimes I lay down / No more can I do / But then I go on again / Because you ask me to."

  The song gained wider recognition when Clarkson performed the song on the "American Idol" charity special, "Idol Gives Back in 2007."  Clarkson received a standing ovation for her performance on the show, as well as every night of her “My December Tour” and the “2 Worlds, 2 Voices Tour” with Reba McEntire.

   Even though Clarkson can move audience after audience to tears with her rendition, she leaves out one of the most touching verses in the song that Griffin sings on her original version:

   “The peaceful valley / Just over the mountain / The peaceful valley / Few come to know / I may never get there / Ever in this lifetime / But sooner or later / It's there I will go."  

2. “When It Don’t Come Easy”

   “Red lights are flashing on the highway / I wonder if we're gonna ever get home / I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight / Everywhere, the water's getting rough / And your best intentions may not be enough / I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight."

   This relaxing song of reassurance brings back great memories for me.  I took a trip to Nashville, Tenn., not long after discovering Griffin and this song was included on a CD for the road. While in the unfamiliar place with two friends, the lyrics in this song calmed each of us. 

  “If you break down, I'll drive out and find you / If you forget my love, I'll try to remind you / And stay by you when it don't come easy."

1.  “Rain”

   “It's hard to listen to a hard, hard heart / Beating close to mine / Pounding up against the stone and steel walls that I won't climb / Sometimes a hurt is so deep, deep, deep / You think that you're gonna drown / Sometimes all I can do is weep, weep, weep / With all this rain falling down."

   When I typed "Patty Griffin" into the search box on iTunes, “Rain” popped up.  Being the first song I heard, it remains the one I hold on to. The guitar driven track contains some of the purest vocals ever recorded, and I must say this is one of the saddest and most captivating songs in history.

   “Its hard to know when to give up the fight / The things you wanted that will never be right / It's never rained like it has tonight before / I don't want to beg you baby / For something maybe you could never give / I'm not looking for the rest of your life / I just want another chance to live.”

   Griffin must grow on you. At first listen, you most likely will not appreciate her charm.

   From Griffin I realize now that what you hear on the radio is not real music. Sure, the radio plays songs for entertainment, but when that song touches a person’s life the way a song by Griffin can, it becomes real music.

   It was Griffin’s song “Let Him Fly” that helped Jessica Simpson through her divorce with Nick Lachey.  She recorded a cover of the song for her 2006 album “A Public Affair.”

   If you like acoustic, laid back music, I highly recommend you check out Griffin’s catalog. Even if you only listen to Top 40 music on the radio, be daring and try something different. Pick up one (or all) of Griffin’s albums and I promise you, you will not be let down.

   For more information on Griffin, check out her official site or add her as a friend on MySpace.

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