Liars and Saints

  Bonnie Raitt is finally receiving her Kennedy Center Honors; one highlight from her career is her cover of "Runaway." The speaker misses her straying lover. There is a subtle sense of "pathetic fallacy"; the world is drenched. "I'm a-walking in the rain; tears are falling, and I feel the pain...."  The bridge underlines a sense of uncertainty: "I wonder.... I wonder.... I wonder...." It's Raitt's decision to add a brief, effective ending: "Come back, Baby. You left me standing in the rain...." Something so apparently simple is usually the result of careful, thoughtful work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt8sfHG-wsk

  Bonnie Raitt has won many Grammy Awards but now--this year--she is making her debut in the songwriter category. She is in her seventies, and she could be on the verge of winning her first songwriter prize. After a few fallow years, Raitt was inspired to make a new recording in the early days of Covid. People were dying. Moved by a particular news item, Raitt wrote a kind of short story, a song called "Just Like That." In this song, a woman observes a stranger circling the block. He pauses before knocking, "like all he has is time." (The woman is older, and maybe she is thinking about her own mortality; she is gently making fun of the young man at the door.) The young man apologizes and says "the directions weren't too clear." (And, in life, the directions are rarely clear!) The woman is surprised to find herself admitting the guy into her house--but "something gives me ease." Here, the song makes an extraordinary jump. The woman gives us ac...

 A song I've always loved is "Have a Heart," by Bonnie Hayes, performed by Bonnie Raitt. The "plot" is like Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Getting Back Together." A cad has one foot out the door, but he wants to keep Bonnie Raitt in limbo, just in case "the winds change." And, memorably, Bonnie says: Hey!  Shut up. Don't lie to me. You think I'm blind, but I've got eyes to see. Hey! Mister! How do you do? Oh, pardon me. I thought I knew you. This is an arresting and funny start. Raitt asks that her chatty, faithless lover just consider the option of "zipping your lips." Oh, darling. I love you so. I told you yes, and then you told me no. Baby, how can you say-- You should be free, and I should pay and pay? Too much taking, inadequate giving. ("We hadn't seen each other for a month--when you said you needed space....") Money becomes a symbol: If one person is fully "free," then the other person h...

 I'm in the process of "shedding" a family friend, so I appreciate Bonnie Raitt's new single, "Made Up Mind": It starts out slow. With:  Go ahead and go . Pretty soon, the melody is like A rainstorm tin-roof symphony. But it starts out slow. Raitt is describing the early stages of decay. What does a dying friendship sound like? "Go ahead and go." Also: bitter remarks, like pounding rain on a tin roof. It goes on and on For way too long. It always ends on a bad note. If you could dance at all, you'd dance alone. It goes on and on. Raitt is sort of an actress, and the way she hits the word "way" is like something from the catalogue of Meryl Streep. The quiet behind a slamming door. The break of a heart that won't break no more. Getaway wheels in a straight line-- Serenade of a made up mind. Suddenly, the rate of decay accelerates, and the use of parallel structure creates tension. "The quiet," "the break," "...

 It's a big season for one of my favorite artists, Bonnie Raitt. Her tenth album, "Nick of Time," was just inducted into the National Recording Registry. Also, Raitt is releasing a *new* album, her first in over six years. (The Wall Street Journal compliments Raitt's "stunning" voice.) My favorite Raitt song is everyone's favorite, and its opening lines are inscribed on my brain: Turn down the lights. Turn down the bed. Turn down these voices--inside my head. Lay down w ith me. Tell me no lies. Just hold me close-- Don't patronize. Don't patronize me. I can't make you love me if you don't. You can't make your heart feel something it won't. Here in the dark, In these final hours, I will lay down my heart, And I'll feel the power. But you won't. No, you won't. I love that Raitt is not presenting herself as strong or admirable; she is quite sad and weak, and this seems like a picture of universal human experience. The ...