Song #8

We're getting to the really good stuff, comrades!
Similar to how Tom Petty made the list, i knew in the earliest days of crafting The Topmost that Ben Harper should be included. Story time!
The time: Spring of 2000, freshman year of PLNU. My boyfriend had just yanked the rug out from under me and dumped my already-angsty little heart. i told my mother. Mysteriously, my older brother called the next day with the mysterious desire to take me out to lunch. Yeah. Mysterious fish, i did smell. So he picked me up at school (since i was a lowly dorm-bound freshman with no car) and off we drove into the funky heart of goofy li'l Ocean Beach. We made small talk. Then he said he 'has a song' for me, and put in a cd and chose a track. It was Ben Harper (who i'd never heard or heard of) singing 'Another Lonely Day', the first line of which is 'Yes indeed, i'm alone again. Here comes emptiness crashing in.' i was no dummy, even back then, and was pretty clear on the impetus for the lunch date. i said 'so i guess you talked to mom.' He said something like 'Yeah. Sucks. Sorry.' That was about the extent of discussion of that subject and we let the song play. He bought me a sandwich at a weird little deli and we had our lunch and he returned me to campus and probably said something like 'hang in there' but i don't remember. i really just remember him playing me the song.
A little over a year later, in the summer before junior year, Jason gave me 2 cds he'd grown tired of listening to and thought i might like. They were Ben Harper albums: 'Welcome to the Cruel World' and 'Will to Live.' i was entranced. It was a very complicated summer. My roommate was a friend who was quickly turning out to be a monster, i couldn't figure out if i really wanted to be with the boy who'd dumped me or if just didn't want to be alone, and i was about to move to Italy. i used to get overwhelmed by it all and drive to a parking lot and sit listening to the two albums (even Mama's Trippin'). Three years after that, when i married the boy who'd dumped me, we danced with our parents to Ben Harper's 'Waiting on An Angel' and our last dance of the night was to 'Forever'. His collaboration with the Blind Boys of Alabama is one of maybe 6 cds i've purchased in the last 5 years. i think his lyrics are true and i love his voice.
i chose 'Walk Away' for the top 15 list, which may be kind of odd since it's a sad break-up song, but i just love it. i think it demonstrates his vocals pretty well, but is just an excellent example of good lyric-writing. It's hard to write a break-up song that is true to the pain while resisting wallowing and camp and also containing the slightest bit of optimism. This one is wonderful. My favorite parts are 'You put the Happy in my ness' and 'Time has taken my Tomorrows and turned them into Yesterdays.' Good stuff.
Please to enjoy: Ben Harper performing my song #8, 'Walk Away.'