Random Track of the Day: Ryan Adams

I kinda forgot what a good album "Love is Hell" was until I ran across it yesterday while I was iShuffling (my word). Yeah, there's a stretch in the third quarter where the album wallows way too much to be engaging at all, but there's still some classic stuff on there. One of the more impressive tracks was its quiet opening song, "Political Scientist". It doesn't do anything special sonically, but the lyrics are ridiculously well-written. They're the kind of lyrics that you can study for days and still not get a complete understanding of what he's trying to say. It could be about corruption, and how politicians sit on the sidelines of their town while the core falls to pieces. It could also be about The White Stripes. Really, it could. Check out the bold lyrics below the audio. Is it one, the other, both, or neither? Or does it even matter?



He is drinking water from the faucet from the river
From the tributary it comes through rusty pipes
Outside his window sees the water
That's supposed to be clean by the chemicals
Polluted by the candy factory lines

Someplace on the edge of town
Someplace on the edge of town
Is where they live
Political scientists

So now she is crawling on her hands and her knees
She is dirtying her jeans choking on her own perfume
With a pen she writes below the sink
In someone’s restaurant
This place is inconvenient for my name
She forgets to write it anyway
She forgets to write it anyway
The government supplies the cocaine
Political scientists

There’s no guarantees
There’s no guarantees
There’s no guarantees

Banging hard upon her crooked drum
She feels them tearing down
Salvation Army houses back in Michigan
Her husband’s divorced
But he treats her that way of course
Because he needs her just like he needs medicine

She forgets to write him anyway
She forgets to write him anyway
What’s red and white and nearly over?
Political scientist
Political scientist
Political scientist

There’s no guarantees
There’s no guarantees
There’s no guarantees