Carbon Leaf Countdown #7: Let Your Troubles Roll By

{Feb 14}

Doug2000s No Comments

One of the most uplifting songs you might ever hear comes in at #7. Another from the great Indian Summer, it’s “Let Your Troubles Roll By!”

There are just so many great lyrical phrases in the song that can easily get stuck in your head for how good they are. Right off the bat, we’ve got what should be one of the all time great quotes on love. “Love endures, it clings away. When asked to leave, it begs to stay.” God, who among us wouldn’t rather here that quoted at weddings than the quote from Corinthians? The song doesn’t stop there and has so many great lines that really have you looking forward to each new verse. If I mentioned Charlie Brown earlier, I couldn’t go without mentioning the random but great inclusion of “Olive Oyle’s searching for her man” here. Besides that opening line though, nothing comes close to the chorus and no offense to the great line about love, but this quote is good for any occasion at any time. “When all of your tears dry, let your troubles roll by.” Simple, but still deep; poignant, yet somewhat worn-out. It almost seems like that message you know in your heart to be true, but you need a romping rock song like this to really make it ring true. More

Carbon Leaf Countdown #8: Life Less Ordinary

{Feb 13}

Doug2000s No Comments

One of the two best known Carbon Leaf songs falls early in our countdown at #8. It’s the ultimate love song by Carbon Leaf: “Life Less Ordinary.”

Chances are if you became a fan of Carbon Leaf after 2005, it was this and “The Boxer” that you knew Carbon Leaf for before anything else. Every band’s got one. RHCP has “Under The Bridge,” Radiohead has “Creep,” and The Clash has “Should I Stay Or Should I Go.” Almost every band has that one song that just crosses genres and really hits it on all levels: their pop hit. Normally, it equates to their biggest success resulting in the band playing it for decades to come since it is the song that got a good majority of fans to take notice of the band. As I’ve stated before, Carbon Leaf is not as big as they should be and this song is the picture perfect example. It’s an ultimate love song, one I’m sure a hundred or so couples have used as a first dance or as “their song.” While it was Carbon Leaf’s biggest hit in terms of radio airplay, it didn’t equate to the success that you would think. It’s even weirder because now, having heard it probably a thousand times; it’s still more fresh & original than anything you’d hear on the radio no matter what channel. Like “Rolling In The Deep,” it’s pop music done right and a song you might think is overplayed, but you still know is pretty darn great. More

Carbon Leaf Countdown #10: Indecision

{Feb 13}

Doug2000s 1 Comment

What should become the unofficial state song of Virginia clocks in next to kick off our top ten! At #10, it’s “Indecision!”

Like “Shine” kicked off the top 25 well, I don’t think there’s a better song to kick off the top ten here. It’s definitely a top ten song for Carbon Leaf too, despite it being a newer addition to their catalogue. I’ll come out and say it is one of my personal favorites. For a good stretch there (maybe a year and a half), it seemed Carbon Leaf opened every show I went to in or around Richmond, VA with this song. It was awesome. It never got old and that’s saying something. I went to a lot in that time period. Really a lot. Like 3 times in 5 days a lot at one point. And they opened probably all of them except one or two with “Indecision.” You just knew you were in a for a show when that opening guitar riff kicked in. More

Carbon Leaf Countdown #11: 7 Brides For 7 Sinners

{Feb 13}

Doug2000s 1 Comment

Well what do we need? Father, Son, and holy smokes? Well just get them to the church on time. At #11, it’s “7 Brides For 7 Sinners!”

Let me start of by saying that I included the information for 5 Alive! down below because that’s the early CD version I know of, but the video is off their newest live album. I just find that version to be a wee-bit better and more suitable for explaining the song since it’s not on any studio albums. Yes, #11 on our Carbon Leaf countdown is a song that has never been released on a regular album and no studio version exists of it that I know. Carbon Leaf is a live band. The sooner we get the in our heads, the better we will be. Some songs may sound better in the studio, but what is that? Like 5 including songs like “Maybe Today?” Yeah, Carbon Leaf is a live band. If you haven’t seen them, I’m not going to say you aren’t a Carbon Leaf fan because that’s not fair, but you really don’t know them until you see them live. More

Carbon Leaf Countdown #12: Torn To Tattered

{Feb 13}

Doug2000s No Comments

Charles Schultz would have adored this song had it come out about a year earlier. Oh, well! At #12, it’s “Torn To Tattered!”

I once asked my friends (most of all my friends are big Carbon Leaf fans) what their favorite lyric or phrase was. Of course, no one had just one and it was a very varied response field, but one phrase popped up more and more. The Charlie Brown lyric. “You walk the path like Charlie Brown. You’re full of hope, but with your head down. And you only have one eye to see. The other’s closed and too scared to peek.” In a song full to the brim of enjoyable elements, it’s a lyric (which I’m sure was written somewhat as a throwaway to finish the verse) that really sticks with people. The song’s tale of daydreaming while tutoring and the line above just leads you to think the songs about being pulled in two different ways. If so, that Charlie Brown is double awesome for really summing perfectly how some people make those decisions. More

Carbon Leaf Countdown #13: Paloma

{Feb 13}

Doug2000s No Comments

You didn’t miss the thunder, trust me. At #13, it’s one of the best from Indian Summer: “Paloma!”

The instrumentation here is amazing. There is no other song in Carbon Leaf’s catalogue like “Paloma.” That tribal bass beat, the haunting background music, the random percussive sounds, the penny whistle matched with the guitar; even the random near-falsetto harmonies make it that much more hauntingly beautiful. I use that phrase a lot to describe some songs and people always ask me what I mean. This song is what I truly mean. It’s like you’re wading through a jungle and stumble upon a tribe with a ceremony you’ve never even heard of. It’s scary and mysterious, but breath-taking and enthralling at the same time. That’s “Paloma.” More

Carbon Leaf Countdown #14: Comfort

{Feb 13}

Doug2000s 1 Comment

At #14 is one of Carbon Leaf’s best folk sing-a-longs that’d be perfect around a campfire. It’s “Comfort!”

“My life is open wide. The more you live, the less you’ll die. Outside, floating free, I’m finally open to see. Could you be any more comfort to me?” That has to be one of the best written choruses by Carbon Leaf and is just an excellent one to sing & sway along to. Of course, if you really like singing along to it, just wait until the last thirty seconds. You’ll get the layered effect of the chorus and the tag-line to the song sung over and over again. The harmonies in this song at times are incredible and really shine out live too making it just an obvious pick for where it ended up on the countdown. More

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