Each day in November, I’m revisiting a song from the 90’s — a decade that was a sorta coming of age for me. In that span, I experienced high school, college and my time as a young single guy in New York City. It was a decade of ups and downs, and the music never stopped playing during that span. It was always there with me. #30DaysOf90sSongs
When I first discovered Indigo Girls around 1990, I was drawn to their songs in a way that I haven’t experienced much before. Songs like “Love’s Recovery”, “History Of Us” and “Secure Yourself” felt like old photo albums with faded edges to flip through. The songs had a way of adding gravity to the most important moments in life, giving me a deeper, wiser perspective on family, life and love. I saw them in ‘91 and ‘92, once at Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre and once at Foxboro Stadium as part of the Earth Day concert lineup. What I found fascinating is how well their songs translated in vastly different venues. Two years later, Swamp Ophelia was released, featuring one of my all-time Indigo Girls songs, “Least Complicated”.
It was one of the tracks that shaped my soundtrack for the summer of ‘94. I stayed up in Boston that summer, and a few of us either bummed around or quit our summer jobs and drove up to the north shore to lounge on sandy beaches. Our road trip mixes included “Least Complicated”, which had everything that I like about the band. Melodies that feel like the stuff of campfire songs. Minimal instrumentation that bring the acoustic guitars to the forefront. And those lovely Indigo Girls harmonies that seem to boldly flank opposite ends of the octaves.
“It's awful quiet here since love fell asleep.”