Love

There are two definitive versions of "Love" -- the first is the album version (I'm most accustomed to the original pressing, which, if I recall correctly, doesn't overlap with the previous song -- "I Won't Stay Long" -- as much it does on the pressing that added "There She Goes"). The second, a live version which was developed some time later, ditches the slap-bass groove, the defiant strings, and the sneaky (what else can I call it?) Johnny Marr-ish chords on the chorus (have you really listened to just how furious that strumming is, buried in there?) -- but adds an absolutely devastating guitar riff, a melting, dying hook, opening up the verses for Dale Baker's tom-driven beat and soaring to great heights on a chorus in which Leigh Nash, for maybe the first time in her career, absolutely commands a song.

Seriously, listen to this. Sorry the video doesn't sync up with the sound, but this is a phenomenal performance:

Wasn't that great? And that organized chaos after the final "let the cut begin" -- Justin Cary proving himself a worthy successor to J.J. Plasencio on the bass -- I want that to last about 100 times longer than it does.

There's much to love about the recorded version, too, of course, starting with the absurd power of the drums -- an effect achieved by having two drummers each play half a set; Dale Baker plays the drums, while Mark Nash (then Leigh's husband) absolutely wails on the hi-hat. It sounds like, to quote Baker, "one barely competent drummer playing his heart out." I'd be lying if I said the drums on this song, so simple and powerful, haven't influenced me greatly in the drumming I've done since I first heard it. (The drums in the last part of "The Wool Gathering" by the Dandelion Method are my feeble attempt to approximate it, in fact.).

As for the words, how straightforward is this chorus?

I need love

It is patience, it is kindness

I need love

It is rain after the dryness

I need love

Sister Wisdom, help me see

It's the one thing that I need

The only thing that I need

The repetition of "I need love" recalls the Sam Phillips song Sixpence covered ("I Need Love"), but is also one of Matt Slocum's most nakedly simple lyrics, up there with the "baby/please stay" of "Northern Lights" and the "I miss everyone" of "A Million Parachutes." And that repetition is one reason why I'm drawn to Slocum's lyrics again and again. Here's a guy who hardly ever looks up from his guitar or moves, even when he is wailing (see above video), who is clearly drawn inward to a world of books and thoughts, yet whose pleading prayer is for love, that force that comes from God and can only ever be understood when one is drawn out of oneself and into the world, that can only be experienced in life with others, that stirs and moves us not simply to feeling but to action, even when that action sometimes presents as pain, as a deep cut.

I am also that guy and I also want to feel that cut. I want all the thoughts, beliefs, and ideas bouncing around my brain to worm their way out into the world, transformed into genuine acts of a love that sustains the universe. Maybe that's a tall order. But it's what I need.

"The Harvester is near/his blade is on your skin/to plant a new beginning/well then let the cut begin."

I really, really love this song.