Stockholm
Singer-songwriter David Crosby once remarked onstage in 1970, regarding CSN(Y), “We write a lot of our songs just right out of what goes on, you know… to us. About people that we love and stuff and things that happen to us you know cause like… that’s what you have to write about if you’re gonna get down to stuff that means anything to ya.”
Yes, Americans have been speaking this way for over fifty years. Americans from Los Angeles anyway. Hidden in the valley girl dialect, there is significant wisdom to be found in Mr. Crosby’s assertion. Honesty may be the best policy in songwriting.
Marie and Donny Osmond once claimed to be a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, respectively. Turns out at least one of them was lying, more than a little bit. If you can’t trust Mormons from Utah, who can you trust?
Jason Isbell is more than a little bit country, and more than a little bit rock and roll. I’m not exactly sure what the percentage breakdown is, you would need to check with his doctor, but Mr. Isbell contains large quantities of each. Isbell is also, as far as I can tell, honest in his songwriting regardless of the topic.
Isbell writes various types of songs, from romantic ballads to barroom bangers. He writes both fiction and nonfiction. He tells modern-day stories about the archetypal South and fills out his characters with specific details, as any good songwriter would. He also tackles some difficult subjects like racism and cancer, not exactly common Nashville song material.
On occasion Isbell takes a page out of David Crosby’s book and writes about himself and about people that he loves and stuff. His song “Stockholm” is one such occasion.
“Stockholm,” for the most part, is not a song about the political, economic and cultural center of Sweden. It is a song about being in an old foreign city and wanting to go home to your wife. It is also a song about personal growth, overcoming fear of commitment, dealing with addiction, falling in love, and learning to have faith in faith. Not bad for a three-minute rock song.
Isbell was inspired to write the song while feeling homesick on tour, in Stockholm. There are allusions in the song to Stockholm syndrome, a psychological condition where hostages end up bonding with their captors, with the added twist in this particular episode that the hostage’s captor is also his wife. I’m not sure if Stockholm syndrome is the healthiest metaphor for a marriage. I’ll let someone more qualified than me sort through that issue, Esther Perel maybe. I think Esther would appreciate Jason’s honesty at the very least. As a music fan, I know I appreciate Jason’s honesty.
I’m not the only one who appreciates Jason Isbell’s honesty. He has sung very directly about his personal battles with anxiety in a song called “Anxiety” (how is that for direct?). Again, mental health disorder (heartbreak and jealousy notwithstanding) is not a topic that frequently pops up when flipping through an old Alabama jukebox.
It is refreshing to hear public figures being open about their own personal mental health issues. Hopefully celebrities have made it easier for “regular people” to have frank discussions. America is dealing with multiple epidemics right now, and the deficiency of mental health treatment is one of them.
Isbell has also mentioned his struggles with alcohol both in his songwriting and in interviews. He has repeatedly gone on the record stating that his wife, fellow country artist Amanda Shires was the catalyst for his sobriety. As Isbell tells it, he knew that he wanted a long-term relationship with Ms. Shires, and he knew that she wasn’t going to put up with a drunk.
I took a last minute opportunity to see Jason, Amanda and the rest of the 400 Unit at San Diego’s Copley Symphony Hall in 2018 and was moved by the rousing audience support shown during a rendition of “Cover Me Up.” When Isbell sang the lines “I sobered up, I swore off that stuff, forever this time,” there were several hoots and hollers of support. Isbell managed to turn a country rock concert into a lively twelve-step meeting for a brief moment. Pretty rare that a country rock audience gets joyfully worked up about not drinking. The moment was almost as sweet as one that came a little earlier, when Isbell took the stage holding hands with with his daughter, who turned three that day. He lead the two thousand in attendance in a preshow rendition of “Happy Birthday.” Immediately following her audience serenade, the birthday girl was ushered backstage because it was past her bedtime and now she needed to go to bed. Good luck to you, backstage babysitter.
I am sure Isbell appreciates all the audience support, but there is a singular driving force in Isbell’s life as detailed in “Stockholm” and the force is not public approval or music even. The driving force is his faith in a girl. Now he has two girls to put his faith in, wife Amanda and daughter Mercy Rose.
I have to admit that valley girl Crosby probably knew what he was talking about. Jason could stand on stage and say, “this next song was kind of inspired by some characters that I grew up with, and what’s been going on lately where I’m from, and things I see happening right now,” and that would be well and good. There is nothing wrong with those kinds of songs. The world needs such songs.
But I’m partial to, “this next song is about me struggling through some really difficult times in my life and coming out the other side. The woman that helped pull me through it, she’s standing five feet to my left. I’m still crazy about her. You ready darlin’?”
You know, songs about people that we love and stuff. It doesn’t get any better than that.
4.28.21