Music Monday #3: The Gaslight Anthem

This is only the third Music Monday, but I still wanted to do something a little different from the first two.

When people ask me what kind of music I listen to, I judge them for a second and usually say something standard like, "rock." But that is still such a huge category.

Gaslight Anthem is one of my all time favorite bands. I only discovered them since I first saw Ross rocking a t-shirt. I figured if that semi-decent guy liked them, I should look them up. And in my interwebs searching, the song that stuck with me the most was Navesink Banks. I kept listening to it over and over. I didn't pay close attention to the lyrics until much later. But there is something ... haunting? Meaningful? Passionate? About the lead Brian Fallon's vocals, something about the guitar strums that linger.

I love simple songs that stand alone, but I am a sucker for songs that relate to literature, pop culture, other songs on the album, or similar musicians. Because when you are listening to them for the 100th time, you can pick up on something new. After this post, listen to Bruce Springsteen's The River. See if you can draw any parallels. Springsteen has a similar style, The Gaslight Anthem has played with him, and they are both from Jersey.

I love the way the song opens,

"'All hope abandon, ye who enter here', said a sign I read that was hanging above her bed."

It's a reference to the phrase inscribed on the gates of Hell in Dante's Inferno. The song goes on to tell a story of a young man and his adventures out on his own at a young age. Of sorts, similar to the descent into Hell in Inferno.

In the song there is a reoccurring phrase, "My first sin was..." It changes throughout the song and starts with

"My first sin was a young American girl."

What he sees as his first step down a slippery slope.

"I ran with dirty angels, slept out in the rain, we were scared and tired and barely 17."

"Dirty angels" is an interesting phrase because of the obvious juxtaposition. Angels are thought of to be holy and pure and clean. But I like the imagery of "dirty angels." To me it could mean good people who are caught up in wrong doing, or maybe good people who don't appear to be good, but nevertheless are.

As the narrator is looking back on his life, he later says,

"My first sin was the fear that made me old."

Again, his first sin, not his second. It makes me wonder, is this synonymous with his first sin? Or looking back has he changed his mind about his first sin? Either way, to me it signifies that maybe the fear of being on his own, running with a hellians, acting tough, made him feel mature and grow up a little too early. After all, he has told us that he was "barely 17."

http://activerain.com/blogsview/3584219/red-bank-new-jersey-navesink-river-high-dry-during-hurricane-sandy

The last verse and my favorite, is set in the present. He is talking to (I assume) a significant other, reminiscing on his rocky past, perhaps with much regret.

"Ah, Maria if you'da known me when."
But she only smiles by the light on the Navesink banks sayin', "Listen Baby, I know you now."

You can tell that this woman cares about him and forgives him his past. Who we were is part of who we are, but it does not have to determine the present.

"I just stand by the moon, thinking bout a ghost I hear at night."

This line really shows contemplation. The past haunts him, it isn't something he can easily forgive or forget.

The last line, spoken by the woman, is the best of the whole song. It's now her turn to determine what his proverbial "first sin" was.

"Your first sin was a lie you told yourself."

To me, she is telling him to stop lying to himself. He's not a bad person, and all these "first sins" are just lies he is holding onto. And holding onto them is holding him back.

I can't get over how much I love this song. It sends chills up my spine. The imagery, the emotion, the mystery.

What do you think?

What songs do you like that are packed full of emotion and meaning?