Carbon Leaf Countdown #21: Blue Ridge Laughing
Feb 10
Coming in at #21 is one of Carbon Leaf’s finest folk compositions. From Ether-Electrified Porch Music, it’s “Blue Ridge Laughing.”
I bet you think I’m going to say I love the guitar in this song. Heck, I say it for every other song on the countdown. Well, it’s pretty great, but no, that is not what I love about this song. The story really gets me. I don’t want to sleep on the music though. It really does set the stage for such a poignant story & message, folky and all. The string arrangement has to be the best addition to the song. Wait, second best – don’t sleep on the bass breakdown of course. Of course, the guitar’s amazing as usual and the chorus really kicks it into high gear. Yes, the music is really great and does stand-out on Ether-Electrified Porch Music, but that story…
Unlike in other songs where things are left open to your imagination, this one’s got some pretty concrete facts. The narrator & girl dated, spent a lot of times on some road trips, and time has passed since they broke up. He sees her again at a reunion (high school probably) and contemplates re-kindling it. He decides not to as he goes back to his music (“the page”) and she goes on with her life. It is pretty straight-forward, but it’s the way the song is presented & laid-out that really resonates with me here. Who among us don’t remember car trips? The same ones over and over again too. It might not even have been with someone you were romantically involved with, but maybe just a friend. It’s only naturally to take that same drive years later and think about it again. It’s the title of the song sung twice that really stands out too. “We used to drive this Blue Ridge laughing.” It doesn’t even go to car trips, maybe you pass an old high school hang-out or a post-college job. Memories are a funny thing and stay with you whether you like it or not. Add love into the equation and the images will definitely come running back every time. I’m rambling here, but I can just imagine driving down any highway and being completely in tune with the lyrics here. So good…
Song: Blue Ridge Laughing
Album: Ether-Electrified Porch Music
Year: 1999
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Feb 28, 2012 @ 23:14:51
My wife and I in fact did drive the Blue Ridge before we got married (on a rather epic cross country trip that pretty much cemented our relationship). “Laughing”? We must have done. Still, it takes me back to that trip and I can’t thank it enough for that.