January 11 - New Star Song

There's something about John's simple, narrative, confessional songs that really strike home the most. The ones where the words are in a sense very straightforward and in another crackling with imagery and meaning. I can see the narrator of New Star Song with the same clarity that I see the narrator of Famous Blue Raincoat. This is a small cold sliver of a life, someone yearning and waiting and planning, and right at the back of his mind wondering if what he is wanting and fearing is actually going to happen.

This is a lonely song in the best way. Someone far from home, maybe without a home, with nothing to do and no money to do it with. I've had nights like this where I had worn out all the options other than waiting and all that was left was to sit down and let thoughts pass through me.

It's never a nice night when this happens. But sometimes it's a necessary and beautiful one. It's only in knowing the absences of people and places and things that we know their presence. You think about what isn't there. You think about what should be there. You think about things you'd thought that you'd soon be forgetting.