Week 746: “Georgia to Texas” by Leon Bridges
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Sometimes I think that the way we celebrate birthdays is wrong.
I mean, it’s nice to celebrate everything you’ve accomplished, useful to have a time when everyone gives you gifts and gives you treats. But if what we’re celebrating is you being born…well that isn’t much of an accomplishment, right?
It’s easy to forget that your birthday is the anniversary of one of the most difficult and significant days of your mother’s life. She did the hard work: the months leading up to the birth, the labour itself which may have been more intense than she’s told you, and then in the weeks that followed when you were a helpless bundle of flailing limbs. She’s the one who should get some cake.
I guess this should really be a Mother’s Day post, but I just had this thought and just heard this song, so we’re celebrating Mother’s Day now – fittingly – nine months early, with Leon Bridge’s fabulous, almost solemn tribute to his mother, “Georgia to Texas.”
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Without long complex lyrics, it tells the story of his mother’s journey from New Orleans to Georgia while pregnant (“504 black girl carried me / in her womb to the land of the peach”) then to Texas a few years later after the breakup of his parents’ marriage.
2. There are no verses or choruses, just four-bar sections. To me this format makes it feel almost psalm-like, which is fitting given how important religion was to Bridges’ mother, as hinted at in the line, “Mama taught me the righteous way.”
3. The drummer isn’t smashing the kit to pieces by any means, but he’s not exactly holding back either. All the fills and hi-hat stutters give a nervous glitchy energy that contrasts nicely with the calm repeating loop of the bass line.
Recommended listening activity:
Buying a Mother’s Day card to give to your mom on your next birthday.
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