Balarama Music

Carbon Leaf Countdown #42: Pink

Jan 20

Doug2000s carbon leaf 1 Comment

Coming up next at #42 from 2009′s Nothing Rhymes With Woman is another reason for why Carbon Leaf should be bigger than they are: “Pink!”

There are so many songs that Carbon Leaf have written that I’m so surprised are not more used in the media, but “Pink” has to be the biggest head-scratcher. Written for a 23 year old fan diagnosed with breast cancer, the song is a very poignant reflection on the disease and what the poor women who suffer from it must go through. With lyrics like “She knows the pain in her side is just a mirage and mirages will fade ,” it’s really hard to see why some breast cancer foundations haven’t adopted this song as anthem for their cause. It really baffles me some times. We can hear “Hey Soul Sister” 100 times a day on the television, but a beautifully written song like this gets overlooked.

The song itself is fantastic. It features some of the finest singing (lead and back-up) that Carbon Leaf has ever done. The instrumentation is vivid too and that riff (played by an accordion I think) is just so urgent. It’s two stories going on at once: the girl struggling to deal with her disease in the lyrics and the urgency of living life in the music. It was one of the first songs I truly gravitated towards when I first heard Nothing Rhymes With Woman, but what’s funny is I didn’t think it would sound that good live. In fact, I didn’t hear it for a while, I believe, until maybe a year later and I was absolutely blown away by the live performance of it. So personal, so emotional, and, yet again, just so darn poignant! Carbon Leaf are, if anything, some of the finest songwriters to come along in years. “Pink” is that song to play for the doubters.

Song: Pink
Album: Nothing Rhymes With Woman
Year: 2009