by Calexico and Iron & Wine, written by Sam Beam.
How old have I become? Because there’s a line in the song that says,
“One more kiss tonight from some tall stable girl
She’s like grace from the earth
When you’re all tuckered out and tame”
and it makes me melt. And it’s not the kind of line that should really get to a man until he’s reached, like, a certain point in his life. Tuckered out and tame? Grace from the earth? Yes please.
This song sits proudly at the top of my Most Played list. According to iTunes, I’ve listened to it 87 times since I added it in March of 2006. About seven times just now.
We learn about a gray stallion and the gray moon in separate verses. But then we’re awakened by cursing in our sleep. Then it’s back to the stallion, tangled in the reins, too tight and too long to fight.
But somewhere in there, there’s this amazing if somewhat left-fieldish Salvador Duran vocal solo. Rough translation of this is as follows:
“I thought that I’d never again
have the opportunity
to find the path and
form a better world”
There could be no better way to offset the somber resignation of this story. Incredible song.
