I and Love And You (The Avett Bros)
Load the car and write the note.
Grab your bag and grab your coat.
Tell the ones that need to know.
We are headed north.
One foot in and one foot back.
But it don’t pay to live like that.
So I cut the ties and I jumped the track.
For never to return.
(R)
Ahh Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in.
Are you aware the shape I’m in?
My hands they shake, my head it spins.
Ahh Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in.
When at first I learned to speak.
I used all my words to fight.
With him and her and you and me.
Ahh, but it's just a waste of time.
Yeah it’s such a waste of time.
That woman she’s got eyes that shine.
Like a pair of stolen polished dimes.
She asked to dance I said it’s fine.
I’ll see you in the morning time.
(R)
Three words that became hard to say.
I and Love and You.
What you were than I am today.
Look at the things I do.
(R)
Ahh Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in.
Are you aware the shape I’m in?
My hands they shake, my head it spins.
Ahh Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in.
Dumbed down and numbed by time and age.
You’re dreams that catch the world the cage.
The highway sets the travelers stage.
All exits look the same.
Three words that became hard to say.
I and Love and You.
I and Love and You.
I and Love and You.
The Avett Brothers (who have played Oxford's Double Decker before) are the latest alt.country band to hit the airwaves. Scott and Seth Avett are the actual "brothers" but the band consists of some other very accomplished and manic musicians. I saw these boys on "Austin City Limits" one night and the performance was so horribly grotesque and disturbing that I could not turn away. They remind me of punk rock progenitors such as The Violent Femmes and even the Stooges.
The song, "I and Love and You" is enigmatic in that it could be a paen to an old flame, a friend, or just about anyone. Some fans say that Scott Avett (aka: the "cute" one) wrote this for them. Regardless, the final line tells us that three words became "hard to say": "I" and "Love" and "You".
For some reason, this particular song reminds me of the summer before I went to college. Maybe because it tells of a leaving for "north" (I went a little north but mostly east for my freshman year. No more to be said at this time) and some references to leaving others behind. From the day of graduation throughout the summer, everything was about saying goodbye to someone or something. Friends were taking off early. Some friends were marrying soon. One change after another.
I didn't think much of it then but now looking back, I wish I had told some of those folks "I love you" ( in word or gesture). I think sometime of the people who are now gone who were un-thanked or un-farethewelled.
Whoever you are, when you go to the next step of your life, be sure to say "goodbye" and even "I love you". It's difficult I suppose because it means a part of us will remain with the person or place.
Truth is, spoken or not, that part will always be there. We may as well tell those we leave it with why.
