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Yesterday I was listening to some of Chris Thile's Live from Here Songs of the Week, via the official Live from Here podcast, because the songs "Turn to the Water" and "Breathe In" have been keeping me sane lately, and I felt like writing about a couple things related to this. First off, in the past I've analyzed an aspect of Chris Thile's vocal technique, but now I think it's time to analyze an aspect of his lyricism. Namely, he LOVES two things- allusions, and this thing that I forget the name of (I think it's a French term), but basically it's the use of a single word to connect two different phrases.

I first noticed the latter in the Punch Brothers song "Julep:"

I died happy in my sleep
My children around and you looking down from Heaven's a julep on the porch

I've been obsessed with that poetic device ever since I first heard this song. These are the opening lines of "Julep," a song reflecting on a happy life and marriage, inspired by Chris' first meeting with his current wife. That's basically all I know about the song's meaning and anything else is what I read into it, but I imagine the narrator of the song to be an old man coming to the end of his life, his grown children gathered around, imagining his previously-departed wife beckoning to him from Heaven. The moment is then seamlessly merged into his reflection on the first time they met, when "she brought the sugar and the mint" and mixed mint juleps to share with him on the porch. That sweet, romantic moment felt like Heaven on Earth, and now the old man is remembering it in his final moments, his life flashing before his eyes.

At the moment, I can't think of any Punch Brothers or Chris Thile songs that use this device so seamlessly, but the song "Thank You, New York," written for Chris' first season of Prairie Home Companion (now Live from Here) and later recorded on his album Thanks For Listening, also does some word-blending and uses a slight allusion in its pre-chorus:

Neither snow nor sleet nor rain
Could ever keep me from the apple of my eye of the hurricane

"Apple of my eye" is a phrase referring to a person or thing which is deeply beloved, whereas "eye of the hurricane" is the center of a hurricane, where the storm is calm while everything beyond that point is raging and destructive. The allusion comes into play with the word "apple," as this song is a love letter to New York City, which is often colloquially referred to as "the Big Apple." Put together, this line means that this city is beloved to the song's narrator, and it also a place of calm/safe haven/place to take shelter from the storm. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how to read the implications of the "eye of the hurricane" part, since I don't know much about hurricanes and I'm also not a fan of New York myself, but the rest of the song celebrates the writer's (Chris Thile's) recent move back to New York by juxtaposing memories of the cocktail bar he used to frequent (Milk & Honey, now closed) with commendations for the people of New York for making it through a rough year (2016, need I say more), so I can only assume that "eye of the hurricane" is a positive connotation.

More allusions abound in this next verse, pulled from the song "St. Mike," which playfully compares Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen to the archangel Michael:

St. Michael, don't you ever think of leaving me
Like a sitting duck-ish kitten up a cherry tree
Waiting for Washington to put a hatchet in eventually
Saying "Damned if I can tell a lie from the truth anymore"

Now this... is a lot to unpack, and honestly, as much I love this song, I feel like Thile was being a little too clever for his own good here. Anyway... The first allusion is clear: St. Michael is a guardian angel watching over those who pray to him and keeping them safe, the way that Michael Cohen as a lawyer was paid to keep Trump safe from scandals. A "sitting duck" is a phrase that I believe derives from hunting, where a sitting duck would be an easy target- vulnerable, exposed, without protection. I'm not sure why Thile thought it was a good idea to stick the "cat up a tree" imagery together with the "sitting duck" imagery, because to me, it doesn't follow at all, but I'll refrain from over-criticizing. The "kitten up a... tree" is another example of an easily-exposed target, alluding to the cliche request of firemen to rescue cats who have climbed up trees. The "cherry tree" is an obvious reference to the story of George Washington as a child, who reportedly chopped down his father's cherry tree and admitted to doing so because "I cannot tell a lie." This is reflected in the line "Damned if I can tell a lie," but Thile then twists the statement on itself in his signature blending of phrases, alluding (I think) to the concept of "fake news." I'll be honest, I don't really understand how the chorus relates to the theme of the song- it gets too twisty and turn-y with all the allusions and it really muddles up the imagery in my head (which in the verses is much easier to follow). But damn if this song isn't a bop.

Following up on the usage of the word "lie," here are two lines (from the Punch Brothers song "Just Look at This Mess" and the Song of the Week "Best Life") that try to milk the double meaning of "lie" for all it's worth:

As I lie like the colors of the rainbow
As I cheat like the daisies in the field

Daddy lies like a rug
Like a million-dollar rug
That just lies there sopping up
Our blood money

The second one, I sort of understand. The song was inspired by an article about Paul Manafort, who was another politician involved with our current administration in some way that I don't remember, I did't actually read the article myself and I don't subscribe to any major news outlets, but anyway... I suspect he was accused of getting rich out of some type of deal that hurt innocents (ie "blood money," that's my understanding of what blood money is anyway) and the "million-dollar rug" is a indulgence of said blood money, so that one can't look past the fancy trappings to see what's really paying for it, which is why it's "sopping up" the blood (although bloodstains would be extremely visible on a rug so I don't think Thile quite pulled off the imagery here either). The "lying" part refers to the obvious- I mean he's a fucking politician- but also seems to imply that he is inactive, that somehow his hands are tied? Since I never really understood the situation to begin with, I can't read too deeply into these lyrics, but I do understood them a bit more than the others. The "lying" part in "Just Look at This Mess" seems to refer to Trump, about whose lies we all know more than enough, but I literally don't understand anything about the rest of it. How do the colors of the rainbow lie, either physically, or meaning the other way? They're not physical objects. And how do daisies in a field cheat? This song is my least favorite on All Ashore for a reason...

Finally, now that we've examined a few of Thile's failed attempts at witty lyricism (though I gotta say I still really love "St. Mike" and "Best Life"), here's an allusion that I think works perfectly, from the song that helped me through last week, "Turn to the Water:"

When the pressure of living is too much for the wine
I turn to the water
'Cause none of our failings should trouble my mind
To the point where a river can't soothe me

It took me quite a few listens to realize the double meaning at play here. At first, I thought "wine" was simply referring to the fact that Chris Thile is a huge wine lover and his enjoyment of it helps distract him from "our failings" (read, most likely: the dumpster fire that is society right now), and I only thought of the water as the sight of the river (fun fact: Chris is a Pisces, which is a water sign, and if you subscribe to astrology that would explain his connection to it- I personally don't believe that astrology is accurate but my sign is also water and that's the only possible explanation I've found for my own spiritual connection to the water). But then I remembered the Biblical story of Jesus turning water into wine, and those two things are commonly grouped- I can't remember if there's an actual saying involving water vs. wine but I'm pretty sure there is. Anyway, this wordplay works because it isn't immediately apparent, the two meanings are clear and effective both ways, and it's just a really well written song in general, okay?

I remember reading a Pitchfork article once, reviewing a Wondermints album, where the writer was not impressed at all and claimed that the album's downfall was the overly clever wordplay in the lyrics. I think about that a lot whenever I hear "clever" lyrics, and all I can say is, I'm pretty sure that dude would hate Chris Thile. (I think this is more incentive for a Wondermints/Punch Brothers collaboration, though... although given Nicky Wonder's passing, I doubt it will ever happen now, not to mention that Wondermints were pretty much defunct at the time of his passing anyway...).

One last note on Songs of the Week. Given the amount of songs that Chris wrote about Morse code and telegraph machines and their inventors over the past two seasons (let's count 'em: "Attention: The Universe," "Lightning Man," "CQ," "Vail Monograph, Version 2," "Mutton and Strawberries," "How's the Weather Where You Are?," "Letters"), I'm fully convinced that this will either result in 1. a Punch Brothers or solo concept album about the topic (this is what I'm hoping we'll get), or (given the rumor I've heard that Thile is currently working on a project for the theater) 2. a musical about the topic (I mean, that would be awesome, and kudos to Thile for trying new things, but I'm kind of hoping it's not a musical because I just know that with music like that, it would flop... not that I hate the music, but there isn't much appeal for a broad audience, it would have to be a very patient and focused audience and they'd have to accept that they might not like the music upon hearing it for the first time). The fact that the same motif repeats throughout "CQ," "How's the Weather Where You Are?," and "Letters" lends credence to this idea, plus the fact that the different verses in "Letters" are labeled as being sung by different characters suggests that it might be a musical in the works after all. I'm only hoping that if this project is indeed a musical and it gets off the ground, that it doesn't affect Live from Here's regular schedule at all. Things have been very quiet lately from Thile ever since LFH went on its winter break, and the break is abnormally long (they usually resume broadcasts mid-January, but this time they're not starting 'til February), so I'm wondering if maybe he's working on the project and it will be due for release during LFH's summer break. (I also heard a rumor that there's a second Goat Rodeo Sessions album in the works, which I really hope is true. Side note, that reminded me of what I said about Joanna Newsom joining Goat Rodeo, which reminds me of a similarity I realized between her and Thile- their music, at least Thile's current direction and what little I've heard of Joanna Newsom, is pretty much prog, but people are too afraid to call it that because it's acoustic.)