On Tuesday, September 24th, 1996, singer / songwriter Sheryl Crow‘s second studio album, named Sheryl Crow, was released. The album offers a mixture of styles including Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock and American Trad Rock. The album feels as relevant today as it did when released 26-years ago this week.
As quoted by Songfacts here, Sheryl Crow described Maybe Angels “as “an extraterrestrial yarn that finds Kurt Cobain joining John Lennon in heaven’s winged choir.”” The opening song from Crow‘s second studio album feels a bit trippy lyrically and musically, with the production choices backing this up.
A Change Would Do You Good charted eighth in the United Kingdom and nineteenth in the United States. Written by Crow of Kennett, Missouri, guitarist Jeff Trott of San Mateo, California, and drummer Brian MacLeod of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, the song conveys several loosely related yet lightly presented changes in life that can be made to improve the experience of life. Musically, the song feels playful.
Home offers the song of heartbreak in a marriage that simply is not working. There’s an absence of fulfillment with dreams deferred and pain for both spouses. Musically, the song drifts into ballad with the instrumental sensibilities leaning toward a country influence.
Sweet Rosalyn brings more of a funk influence to romance just out of reach. The lyrical twist of a priest aiming to proselytize the musical object of the song, Rosalyn, strikes me as unexpected and a bit amusing. The message I hear is aim for better, fuller love.
If It Makes You Happy charted ninth in the United Kingdom and tenth in the United States. As mentioned here, “[t]his song describes a person who seems depressed or upset no matter what happens…This won the Grammy award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.” While sung at higher pitch with more acoustical energy than Home, the song emotionally hits me from a satisfyingly similar place to the third song from the self-titled album.
Redemption Day opens with an intriguing reverberating acoustic sound that includes interesting percussion that I really appreciate. Crow‘s performance, as mentioned here, was “as a politicized song about national redemption.” Johnny Cash would cover the song as something “about personal redemption.”
Hard to Make a Stand charted twenty-second in the United Kingdom. In offering an uplifting sonic feeling like A Change Would Do You Good, the song almost responds to the feedback that change might help. As mentioned here, Hard to Make a Stand “seems to look at the world through the eyes of a person trying to make sense of this world. It mixes the morbid with a strange sense of hope. Plenty of black humor to go around, as well.”
Everyday is a Winding Road opens with refreshingly light bongos. The optimism about feeling closer to fine in a world that doesn’t necessarily make sense charted twelfth in the United Kingdom and eleventh in the United States. The perspective offered here called this song a “bit of fortune cookie wisdom.”
Placing my finger on the musical influence for Love is a Good Thing proved a little bit of a stretch, though the choice of organ and then synthesizer / keyboard really impressed me. An interesting note, mentioned here, was that Walmart banned this song over a provocative lyric included in the song. “The store refused to carry the album unless [Sheryl Crow] changed the lyric. Crow refused.”
Oh Marie calls attention to another girl lost in one-night stands and reputation makers. The singer’s perspective questions how this could bring happiness, despite wishing Marie best. To me, I am also hearing Crow question for herself what love is, though tackling that question with answers about what love is not.
The musical introduction for Superstar interests me as much as the message the song, if not more. Crow offers the notion with Superstar another bite of the romantic apple in noting that a celebrity romance has its appeal, though the brilliance at the beginning wears off. The question again feels like “what is love?” A step further, it feels like “what can make love sustainable after the infatuation melts away?”
The Book offers a musically mournful sound and message that interests me so much. The idea of a singer / songwriter becoming the public telling of a romantic experience both signals a violation of trust and a betrayal. My feeling is that Sheryl Crow credibly offers those painful feelings for the betrayal is notably one direction, as in there aren’t details of Crow‘s partners in the music Crow presents.
That Ordinary Morning opens with Sheryl Crow singing in a throaty, high key with a nightclub echo and musical accompaniment reminiscent of a confession is striking. The lyrics coupled with deliberate drums and piano speak knowingly of an experience where Crow woke first and moved on. The lyrics feel to me like a mixture of convincing the singer and us that the previous night’s intimacy was passionate, deliberate and now, done and behind. That this song is placed besides the songs that preceded it, and ends the album, speaks strongly to a message of love, pride, dignity and a still continuing search for love.
Matt – Saturday, September 24, 2022
Matt Lynn Digital 