Carbon Leaf Countdown #17: Another Man’s Woman
Feb 12
The namesake for Nothing Rhymes With Woman shows up in our countdown next. At #17, it’s “Another Man’s Woman!”
If CCR came out during the 2000s, they might write songs like this one. It’s got such a bayou sound to it which of course has to do with that swamp twang of a guitar melody. I can almost smell the gator in the water as that guitar drags in the beginning seconds of the song. This is one of the songs too that just make Carbon Leaf so hard to place in a genre again too. Sure, there are some folk elements in the song, but would you put this up against any of their other folk songs? Sure, it’s got a clear-cut rock sound, but that southern, almost country twang to it is almost unmistakable. Plus, what country band would sing a song like this that well?
This is one of the countless songs that Carbon Leaf played for a while before releasing it on a record and I like to think it really helped the song out too. They seem to be still messing with it too. When they play it live, Jason Neal adds an excellent shotgun drum beat during parts of the verses that really give that extra oomph to the lyrics. The lyrics too. Don’t sleep on them because we’ve got some “how the hell did he come up with those phrases” gems. “A pleasure-seekin’ yahoo with a penchant for pain. A double-decker bus of trouble, I’m in the way.” They roll so effortlessly off the tongue and into the melody that it seems almost organically. Then you realize how crazy those metaphors and word choices are. Truth be told, there’s nothing like seeing Barry Privett with his Grizzly Adams/1800s Senator beard reciting the lyrics with a defiant stance. Seriously, if you’ve never seen Carbon Leaf live, I don’t know how you get through the years.
Song: Another Man’s Woman
Album: Nothing Rhymes With Woman
Year: 2009
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Feb 12, 2012 @ 23:01:09
Hello THANK YOU – ‘penchant for pain’ – indeed !! The official lyrics on the CD actually read ‘pension for pain’ – which never made sense to me (not that Barry’s lyrics need to make sense) but I have a personal stake in this. I recall to this day a discussion I had with my 7th grade creative writing teacher when I used the word ‘penchant’ (correctly I might add) in an essay.
I always wanted to ask Barry about that…
P.S. I loved this song the first time I heard it – and have to laugh when I hear or see the ‘Live, Acoustic…’ version “I fell in love with another man’s woman…again.”
Feb 14, 2012 @ 12:12:03
Although I’ll concede that Barry’s backwoods look did add a little something to the song this summer, my favorite version is when they were starting it off with the intro to Run On:
Go tell that long tongue liar,
go and tell that midnight rider,
tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter,
tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down.
Here’s an example from a 2009 show: http://www.archive.org/details/cl2009-06-06.flac16
Feb 15, 2012 @ 22:08:33
I absolutely LOVE this song! When I first heard it on the album, I kept hitting the back track button to play it several times in a row. The lyrics are amazing, the bluesy guitar is infectious, and I’m not sure yet if I prefer the live or studio version best!
I didn’t get to see this song performed before it was put on the album, but that’s only because living near Seattle, the Leaf don’t get up here more than once a year. Sometimes twice. But rarely three times!
They didn’t play it at Bumbershoot this year, so it’s been over a year since I last heard it live. Sometimes it’s sad living up here.
Feb 16, 2012 @ 06:22:04
The first time I heard this song was at a Halloween show in Raleigh NC in 2008. Barry was dressed as a werewolf. He did the howl, which he now does at the start of Desperation Song, but for the longest time I couldn’t hear AMW without imagining him in fangs and howling. I also recall somewhat of a controversy surrounding the lyrics when the song was new. Some folks thought the song encouraged infidelity and took umbrage with the topic.
The song is always fun to hear live. I particularly like how Barry speaks the line “she came out of the sun just like a deity” differently each time.
Here’s my favorite live version from a show last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d2lbJDbX14