Specifics:
- title: The ’59 Sound
- artist: The Gaslight Anthem
- release date: August 19, 2008
- runtime: 12 songs, 41 minutes 37 seconds
I’m a latecomer to The Gaslight party. It was only last year, 2018, when I listened to them for the first time. Ironically, I discovered them via an unusual source. I normally use The Ringer for sports. I was bored cruising around the site one day when I came across this bolt of lightning. The article hooked me and immediately upon finishing it, I listened to The ’59 Sound in its entirety. The album grabbed me in a way that transported me back to a certain time. I would describe it as a youthful exuberance. A time when nothing much mattered except for hanging out with your friends and cruising around in cars…
For this “retroactive” post, I want to focus on the lyrics. Something about this album hits you deep in your soul and I think that has to do with how it’s written. I find myself singing nearly every song from this album days after I’ve listened to it. It’s a timeless piece of music and I hope that I can inspire someone else to listen to it, just as I was inspired when I read about it. Check out the album below via Spotify and take a gander at some of my favorite lyrics in the breakdown below…
Album Breakdown:
- Great Expectations
- favorite lyric: “Everybody leaves, so why, why wouldn’t you?”
- The ’59 Sound
- favorite lyric: “Did you hear the old gospel choir when they came to carry you over?// Did you hear your favorite song one last time?”
- Old White Lincoln
- favorite lyric: “If I could write, I’d tell you how much I’ve missed these nights”
- High Lonesome
- favorite lyric: “I always kinda sorta wished I was someone else”
- favorite lyric: “I always kinda sorta wished I was someone else”
- Film Noir
- favorite lyric: “And I lit a fire that wouldn’t go out// Until it consumed the walls and roof of this house// Until all I remember was burnin’ away// And all that you left me, you burned it away”
- Miles Davis & The Cool
- favorite lyric: “She never understood that it ain’t no good, papa never heard the cool”
- favorite lyric: “She never understood that it ain’t no good, papa never heard the cool”
- The Patient Ferris Wheel
- favorite lyric: “Remember baby, we were a stone// And we would sleep where we’re fallin'”
- Casanova, Baby!
- favorite lyric: “I’m still these nervous feet// And heart of stone// Forget this dead mans town// I’ll take you home”
- Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
- favorite lyric: “I still love Tom Petty songs and drivin’ old men crazy”
- favorite lyric: “I still love Tom Petty songs and drivin’ old men crazy”
- Meet Me By The River’s Edge
- favorite lyric: “And we’ve been burned by all our fears// Just from growing up around here”
- Here’s Lookin At You, Kid
- favorite lyric: “And even if that’s a lie// She should’ve given me a try”
- The Backseat
- favorite lyric: “And in the backseats we just tried to find some room to breathe”
- favorite lyric: “And in the backseats we just tried to find some room to breathe”
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