All Time Greatest Song

Jason Isbell 9:30 Club 1.14.2011

My ears came tonight because I heard a cover of my all time favorite song. A song that in my mind lacks nothing. It tells a perfect story, has the ultimate hook and conveys an emotion we have all dealt with at some point or another.  Pure loneliness. You are unhappy and struggling, but completely aware that if you stay strong, dig in... eventually it will get better. Until then, all you can do is sit there and wait. Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding will always be my favorite song. Knowing that Redding and his cohort Steve Cropper  recorded this song only days before a tragic plane crash outside of Madison Wisconsin which ended Redding's life all too soon, makes this song even more perfect. Morbid. Maybe just a little, but also very poetic. I could write pages about the personal significance of this song, but I will spare you.

 I, like a lot of self proclaimed music nerds, have a weak spot for list making. The thing about my lists, though, is that they fluctuate depending on my mood during the time of inquiry. I am aware of this and am called out on it by fellow music nerds repeatedly.  All time top ten greatest pop songs. . . today I feel  like Radio Free Europe by REM is firmly in the seventh spot, but tomorrow it may very well shift down to number ten or up to five. I am not a machine. I am an emotional being. I cannot predict these things. I am fickle and I change my mind.  So be it. Deal with it. But if you ask me today, asked me six months ago, or ask me 12 years from now what my all time favorite song is, there will be no hesitation, no waffling. Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding/Steve Cropper. Period. End of story. Case closed.

Something else I am sure about is my unwavering appreciation of Jason Isbell.  Jason Isbell is an Alabama-born singer/songwriter. He used to be a member of The Drive By Truckers, a gritty Southern rock band known for weaving parables that just happen to have instruments involved about the "Real South." In DBT's case, there is an overabundance of songwriters, and Mr. Isbell, I think feeling like he was not getting a fair shake, parted ways with the band and went out on his own. For this, I am thankful. Isbell is a storyteller in the true form of the word. Lucky for us he plays a mean guitar too.  His topics include how a small town struggles with the loss of a young man who felt compelled to go off to a foreign land and fight in a war, and now he is permanently wearing his "Dress Blues" or about the horrible gut-wrenching isolation new love can bring in "Goddamn Lonely Love." His material is real. It is deep. It is not about going out, drinking martinis, and taking home a girl because the time is right and you like her shoes. (There has to be a song with this subject matter that is played in a club, right?) Isbell's stories take place in dark corners of bars and in small towns. They are about hard work, tough luck, learning from mistakes and the ups and downs of life. I relate. This is my kind of music.

The show, without the encore, would have been absolutely fantastic. It would have completely filled my expectations. Thank you Jason Isbell for giving me an eargasm and saying good night with the greatest song ever. Now, I need a cigarette.