“…This must have been when I first moved to Chicago. I went home for some holiday and went digging through my parents records then I found Still Bill by Bill Withers. I was like “Use Me,” “Lean on Me”—great! I had just gone through it with a woman who wasn’t in the right place to really be with me (blah blah blah, I just got out of a break up so I wrote songs that ended up on The Company You Keep.)”
“I remember it was snowing, everyone in the house was asleep and all I could really see was the LED off the record player and “Let Me in Your Life” came on. I don’t know how it escaped me, but holy hell that song hit me like a ton of bricks.
I must have put the needle back 10 times that night—in all fairness it’s a short song. It was for sure a moment and the vinyl was a little warped so it was like my own version of the tune. That song still gives me chills.
I don’t really consider “So Long” a break up song so much as a refusal to be sad about a break up anymore. I think that the upbeat tempo is really just a bit more of a release. So long is a phrase that’s got a positive connotation; it’s a bit of a going away party.
The song is addressed to someone who has moved on from the situation and now it’s just you and the ghost.
http://youtu.be/0JNQ3JK5tGQ
You realize you’ve been lying to yourself and keeping yourself in this bad spot and you’re choosing to leave feel better about it.
—Philip-Micheal Scale, Briar Rabbit
Briar Rabbit’s next album, From Your Bones, will be released on September 10th, 2013. The album was produced by Josh Moshier, a renowned Chicago jazz pianist, recorded by Mike Hagler (Wilco, Neko Case) and features contributions from Jeff Parker of Tortoise and Quin Kirchner of Wild Belle.
