Curbside

As is well known to any fan of rock and roll, it's such a fine line between stupid and clever. But the line between exquisite melancholy and maudlin treacle is much thinner and much more treacherous for a songwriter. Damien Jurado takes a subject and approaches it in a manner that could easily signal a quick descent into the latter. Instead, he carves out space in the former with a sparse, incisive deftness that's heartbreaking. 

I would come out just see you
Dancing freely by the sunset
Like the sun you'd shine brightly 

We'd spend hours by the curbside
Telling stories under streetlights
How your words would amaze me 

Now those days are gone
Slowly they'd slipped away 

I still go out by the old house
Where I met you our first summer
Where are you now, you're with another 

I am sitting by the curbside
Where we'd hang out under streetlights
How those times still are with me 

Now those days are gone
Slowly they slip away