An uncharacteristically autobiographical song, it narrates the disorientation that I, Sumanth, felt as a nine-year-old child moving from the Chicagoland area to Slidell, Louisiana in the mid-1980s. Bits of Dylan, Adorno, 60s-era paranoia, and other cultural detritus float amidst a childlike dream-space; "my old foe" is, of course, myself. The chorus came from a dream in which I was part of an all-male choir singing the song—the first line of the chorus and most of the tune came from that dream.
Remarkably, the band did not know this song at all before recording it and learned it on the fly in the studio. It turned out to be one of the most assured tracks on the album and a fitting opener.
lyrics
And now I’m stuck here in Louisiana
And now I’m stuck in a place that I don’t know
Some say it’s a plan, a sinking by the Man or my old foe
Some say I was stuck here long ago
You say I’ve been here all of the time
You say I’ve put you out of your mind
No, no, no
It was never a case of a woken heart or a woken soul
It was never a waste of a spoken art or a story told
It was never based on broken part of a broken whole
You think I’m out there all alone
You say I’m stewing and it’s no good
I say I’m renewing like I should
No, no, no
It was always a case of a putting off or a putting on
It was always a face that I had seen and then was gone
It was always a place that stayed too dark long after dawn
You think I was out there all along
They’ll say it all ends when you go home
He’ll say make amends when you have grown
You’ll say you need something to sit upon
And I say, “Hold on”
And I say, “Hold on”
credits
from Won't You Believe Me,
released November 8, 2019
Sumanth Gopinath: lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, Hammond organ, piano
Beth Hartman: backing vocals
Teresa Gowan: fiddle
Nathan Knutson: electric guitars (including slide solo)
Cody Johnson: bass guitar
Paul Hatlelid: drums
The Gated Community is a country/bluegrass/Americana band with rock influences based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in
Minnesota and has been in existence since early 2006.
Bandmembers: Sumanth Gopinath
Rosie Harris
Beth Hartman
Paul Hatlelid
Cody Johnson
Nate Knutson...more
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