[reposted from my real blog, Departure]

Andy Whitman is just about my favorite music critic. Among other things, he writes for Paste magazine, and I always look for his reviews first. He recently wrote a blog post for Paste extolling a record by Jacob Goldman called Revenge Songs. I haven't heard the record (it's not out yet), but I was taken by Whitman's description of it, especially a song called "Zero Integrity": I never claimed to be the better man / I've got no integrity to cling to.

Thing is, most songwriters can't resist a little touch of pro-singer spin. Neil Young's "guitar fighting the TV" or Paul Simon's assurance that he, too, was "concerned with the child she carried." It takes something for a character to reveal his own shit-heeledness without flinching. To say flat out, "I've got no integrity to cling to."

I think there's something worth exploiting in that difficulty, the tendency characters have (oh, hell, that we all have) to take that little turn away from the harsh light of self-examination and put in a little plug for themselves. Though I'm not saying I'm any good at this as a songwriter myself, at turning that light on myself. For one thing, as I've discussed in this space before, I'm no great pour-your-soul-out confessional songwriter. For another, I'm a little bit sheltered in the heart break department, and I ain't fixing to clean out the savings account, grab a bottle of JD, and take the minivan to Vegas just so I can get my song on!

I've been going at this from another angle, playing with characters who don't seem to realize what wretches they are. Who keep telling themselves or their lovers or whoever will listen, "Anyone of you'd have done the same thing," or "I'm not the man you think I've been; / Just let me hold you close tonight." Is it making for good songs? Well, time will tell I guess, but I like them a lot. Come out to a show sometime soon and see if you like them too.