Speedway
"I'm just trying to get myself some gravity
...you're just trying to get me to stay"

A big complaint about "This Desert Life" as a whole is that many feel that Adam Duritz's lyrics aren't 'up to par' with the stuff he's done in the past. They say, his lyrics aren't so delicate or 'poetic' as before. Well to all those people...I present to you...Speedway.

For whatever this song lacks in 'poetic beauty', it more than makes up....nope sorry, BLOWS AWAY ANYTHING he's written when it comes to brutal honesty and sincerity...that's my opinion at least. I mean common! from the VERY start...when was the last time you ever had a song start with the lines..."I get so nervous I'm shaking, it gets so I've got no pride at all". From the very beginning we've got this guy without ANY 'walls' we have this person defenseless and beaten and you can't help but empathize with the situation he's in. So many people love the Crow's music because it's so easy for people to identify with most situations. Well "Speedway" is no different...except no need for decyphering here...it's all here, the pain, emotion, confusion, all of it in black and white.

Speedway really stands out from the rest of the album because it's so simple. When I first heard it, I wasn't really impressed because it seemed so "ordinary"...then I listened, really well. It just so happens that my player in my room only has one speaker (don't ask). So in songs like this (stereo mixed) not everything is heard, so in my room, for the first verse, all you hear is the drums and Adam's voice....that's it, you have no choice but to listen to his words and they just send chills, makes the song even more effective. I guess that really was the idea when they recorded it. The sparseness of the instrumentation really make the song more powerful.

Adam Duritz says that this song is like a continuation of Mercury, about getting out of an addictive relationship. All I can say is that I hardly saw that in Mercury, that song seemed to take a more humorous approach, so I guess initially, I really didn't get it. Speedway on the other hand SAYS it ALL...especially in the bridge.."The bottom line's you don't know how I feel...you say you see, but I don't agree, you don't know how I feel". I mean it doesn't get more direct than that.

It's all honesty...for me, THAT'S what sets apart The Crows from most artists/bands out there, the fact that Adam Duritz can express himself so honestly and effectively, and how amazingly on the dot the band interprets his words...simply magic.

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