PLEASE PARDON YOURSELF
The Avett Brothers: Salvation Song
The Avett Brothers: Please Pardon Yourself
I saw The Avett Brothers Saturday night at Terminal 5 here in New York. These guys are a pure explosion of earnestness and awesomeness without any hint of irony i.e Williamsburg bluegrass… the “I have intentional body odor and a trust fund” kind. Their roots are in bluegrass and old time gospel, but they bring so much more to the table. They aren’t always playing/singing in tune, but for those two hours they are singing the songs that you are wanting to sing. Loudly. Something about the music reminds me of Animal from The Muppets and way he yells during the Christmas carols the Muppets sing. No convention or posterity just earnest abandon. The lyrics below to Salvation Song summarize what Saturday night was and what it’s like to listen to their music.
If you take my heart
Don’t leave the smallest part
I’ve no need to live if you’re to come up gone
An as my life turns to a song
And if and when I treat you wrong
No I never want to hurt our family
And I would give up everything
No this is not just about me
And I don’t know a plainer way to say it Babe
And they may pay us off in fame
Though that is not why we came
And I know well and good that won’t heal our hearts
We came for salvation
We came for family
We came for all that’s good that’s how we’ll walk away
We came to break the bad
We came to cheer the sad
We came to leave behind the world a better way
Now if I’m walkin’ through the rain
And I hear you call my name
I will break into a run without a pause
And if your love laughs at your dreams
Well it’s not as bad as it seems
Either way one of them has got to go
And if you take of my soul
You can still leave it whole
With the pieces of you own you leave behind
And I would give up everything
And if you were to come up clean
And see you shine so bright in a world of woe
And they may pay us off in fame
But that is not why we came
And if it compromises truth then we will go
