Wow, That's A Good Song: Caroline Herring, "The Dozens"

Lately I've been thinking about the ways we identify with artists, genres, songs, movements -- all kinds of things related to the way we consume music. It's been mostly lyrics in the last few weeks for me -- yesterday a Mountain Goats song left me feeling literally suckerpunched -- but when I think about songs whose quality leans on how thoroughly the listener can identify with the content, warts and all, there's a clear winner in my collection. I remember Memphis Like it was yesterday And a Ford station wagon So full of us it was dragging With your books in our grasping hands We heard you speak We made our plans To hoist the flag and rule the world All the hopes we had unfurled  Tell me a little joke Let’s play the dozens Say something about my mama In a veiled quadrille round I’m just a white girl from a segregated town And I’m looking for some answers That I haven’t foundIf we're working on the premise that Americana should reflect something about the United States, Caroline Herring is brave enough to say that there's a lot about this country that's hard to stomach, while still keeping the political personal. Issues don't always get real until we see them affect people we know, and at that point, it's hard to know what to do, assuming there's anything we can do.Still: the story in the song is so detailed, so clearly personal, that I don't know how the song might come off to someone who doesn't know what living like that is like. I'm a little too close to it myself to say. So I'll just be over here wishing she'd either come out to Denver or move her show at Eddie's Attic on 4/15 back a week.Caroline Herring: Official Site | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | Store