When I first heard this song, I had never listened to My Morning Jacket before. They were always one of those modern bands that I knew had a lot of musical value but I had not yet had the chance to get into them. The song certainly is a great place to start.
For me, this song is about the transformation of sins into sacraments within the story of someone's life. The speaker shares how he smoked drugs, stole cars, and ultimately ended up in prison. He is casting these events as acts getting it outta his system. They have afforded him some valuable knowledge that he wants to share. At one point in the song he sings "just between you and me / I had to get out and make the deals / and learn to know how it feels but that ain't real". The singer is identifying living a devious life as fake. It is not the way for a person to live his or her life. Instead it is a stage to pass through that leads to a better life. Also he warns that people must live while they are young. Lastly he honestly shares "Some things I know I will never get outta my system." Within a faith, sacraments are acts that believers perform in order to gain knowledge. That is exactly what the speaker did.
Now the message that this song delivers is far from a new one. Countless songs have been recorded about living while you are young and learning from your mistakes. But what makes this song refreshing is the music that accompanies the message. From what I can gather, the style of this song and the album it is found on, is completely different from what My Morning Jacket has done in the past. Personally, I dub it innovative. It pulls together a lot of sounds and styles. It only makes sense that it would pull in a classic message. Luckily for a listener, it pulled it in a rich musical landscape. The song begins with whispering chimes; the song starts like a calm breeze. The wind becomes up as Jim James gets into the meat of the song. It ends strongly leaving the listener to return back to this piece of testimony.
Give it a listen at this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eejddMkeyks
Please Enjoy,
Nick Howard
