Hey Heather!! I discovered your site just a few days ago and am TOTALLY impressed with what you write, share and your general attitude (even putting up with the jerk above). I really appreciate the time and effort you put into posting the rarities (even though they eventually disappear, from what I can see, how GREAT that people like me can get access to new songs by some of our favorites). I had actually been searching originally for Ray LaMontagne rarities and ended up on your site… even tho those links weren’t working, I was totally excited to see that there is someone other than me that gets so excited about good music– and most of your posters seem to really enjoy it, too.

Just wanted to say: YOU ROCK!

GREAT STUFF!!

My personal favorite of the new songs doesn’t seem to have a title yet, but includes the line… i wouldn’t want you to want to be wanted by me…

great blog by the way, all the way around.

As for you being able to interpret songs however you want? Actually no. Not if you disregard 90% of what the songwriter has actually written down.

You’ve presented almost all of this info as fact but you clearly didn’t check your facts first. You likewise made snap judgements about what songs are about without due consideration of all the lyrics.

Opinions are worthless if they’re not informed by examining the facts first. Otherwise, you lose all credibility. If I say “I think Paris, France is the prettiest part of Asia” I can truly believe that all I like but I will sound like an idiot because it proves I don’t actaully know anything about either place.

Insisting that ‘Sand’ is a happy song just because it’s got an upbeat tempo can only mean you are ignoring just about all of the other lyrics except the very unrepresentative ones which you’ve posted.

Please explain to me how a song that starts and ends with: “you keep me in a glass jar sealed with a label. You think you know my world? Wake up, young girl.” is about a happy mutual love? To say nothing about this chorus: “I’m not a grain of sand. I don’t care what’s written in your hand.” and “sore, bored and I’m lost, cost, cold”. Sounds like those two are having a real picnic, eh?

Or a song like “Accidental Babies” is about your classic average breakup rather than infidelity when it blatently states:

1) that there is “no room for a pardon in a place where no one knows what we have done”.

2) that “we ignore our others”.

3) that “we use cushions to cover happy glands in the mild issue of our disgrace”.

4) The new 2nd verse which makes it even clearer that the two are guilty of cheating: “Our minds pressed and guarded while our flesh disregarded
the lack of space for the lighthearted in the boom
that beats our drum.”

5) Most importantly and obviously: how do you explain the song’s title? If they’ve already broken up then why should either of them be concerned that he might make her pregnant?

Explain all five of these points with your theory. Does it fit? Nope. So just admit it. A hypothesis that doesn’t stand up to rigorous testing isn’t credible and the same is true of any opinion that is made rashly without consideration of all the necessary facts.