Opposites Attract

I don’t know ‘bout ya’ll, but it’s rare for me to instantly LOVE a song the first time I hear it. Most times, a song has to grow on me. After playing a song a few times, maybe I finally say to myself, oh yeah - this is a good one.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, driving home from who-knows-where, I was drawn to one of those temporary Sirius XM stations on my car radio that was touting an “alt country” format. Figured I’d give it a try.

One of the first songs I heard was by a fella named Hayes Carll, and the song was “She'll Come Back To Me”. I was hooked about 30 seconds in.

First, I am impressed by the production of this song. I LOVE that Hayes’s vocals are so out front and not competing with the instrumentation, because these lyrics rock, and I wanna hear them.

So, let me address the lyrics next: this is a great example of liberal (one might say maybe too liberal!) use of “opposites”. Almost every line is something that flies in the face of a truth we are all willing to accept… but there’s a reason for that.  

For example, here’s the first few lines of the first verse:

It rains all day in the desert

And Elvis is alive

A circle's got four corners

And two plus two is five

I've never been hung over

And there ain't no fish in the sea

(And… the closer):

And she’ll come back to me.

Yeah. Simple and effective.

I’ve used this “opposites” approach (which can be conceptual or just a word-pair) in lyrics before but in a much more limited way. (Sassy example from a Patty M song, “My Old Schwinn” is “it feels good to be so bad!”). A well-placed “opposite” can really make for a killer line and put a spotlight on whatever message you are trying to deliver through the lyrics.  

Like a well constructed song, the bridge/chorus of “She’ll Come Back To Me” gives us an introspective assessment, stepping away from the relentless detail of contrasts in the verse:

And I heard her say I do

But just because one says a thing

That don't make it true

Now I'm sittin' here by my lonesome

Sad as a man can be

Prayin' she'll come back to me

There you go. Well done, Hayes!