Sam Beam of Iron & Wine
Iron & Wine's Sam Beam might make you feel like this with his music, but his stories will keep you wide awake.
The Story:
He is Elliott Smith's voice, but without the baggage. He is Bob Dylan's wordsmith, but without the politics. He is Neil Young's sense of place, but without animosity. He is Sam Beam and he has quietly literally and figuratively become one of the more influential singer/songwriters recording music today.
Beam's moniker Iron & Wine is the perfect mold for the Holding Dylan's Hat column because his musics primary strength is the lyrics and the subdued but telling stories he weaves together with the soothing strumming of an acoustic or slide guitar. The beauty of Beam is that what you see is what you get. Theres no drama, no rock star rags-to-riches history, and nothing to his persona that suggests he is the story. The tales are in each of his songs.
As much as anyone can be who records music that other people want to hear, Sam Beam is normal, the guy next door with a wife and kids who has been a professor at a local Florida college and who happens to play the guitar well. Beam made home recordings for friends and some of these DIY songs got in the hands of Sub Pop in 2002. They were smart enough not to ask him to re-record the basement tapes that would become his debut album The Creek Drank The Cradle.
But as I said, Beam isnt the story; the songs are. These are the tales of a long-forgotten Deep South, complete with the dust and dirt caking a Georgia farmhouse. Simple times about how we think America used to be, all sweat, hard work, heartache and redemption. Or theyre the stories of how men feel about love, how its rarely spoken about, but when guys like Beam open up, the emotions concerning matters of the heart briefly but eloquently spill forth. Finally, these are the stories that celebrate the strength of women throughout the ages, from the days of the Old Testament to the everyday struggles of the truly complex and powerful sex.
The Artists Take:
Sam Beam is not an overly gregarious personality and based on the sound of his music, it would be disappointing and jarringly contrary if he werent reserved and somewhat of an enigma. We dont hear many quotes or interviews from Beam, but his Iron & Wine music bares all emotions, scars, fears and passion.
We consider the two full-length Iron & Wine albums and latest EP, Woman King, to be the strongest thematically. Each has a different focus, but it seems that death plays a role in most of Beams songs. It is more subtle on The Creek Drank The Cradle as Beam sings of rural life on Southern farms and small towns. But God and The Devil weave their way into his early songs, alluding to our immortality. Death plays a much more prominent role in Our Endless Numbered Days, the logical sequel to Creek. The songs Beam penned for his sophomore effort revolve around the love of a woman, about deep-seeded emotions, but ultimately are grounded in the fact that when the wind wraps me like the Reapers hand / I will swing free until they cut me down.
Finally, Beams latest solo work, the Woman King EP released in 2005, takes on a more specific and focused theme both lyrically and musically. It is very much a celebration of the power of woman, and how over time, women have had to endure many more hardships and adversity than their male counterparts. Beam adds an edge to his normally soothing music with more percussion and even some electric guitar work. To match the change in musical tone, Beams lyrics focus on strong female characters like Jezebel, the seemingly cruel and tyrannical princess of the Old Testament who was thrown out of a window by one of her husbands rivals. Clearly, Sam Beam isnt satisfied to be pigeon holed as todays lullaby crooner. His music and his stories continue to challenge and change his audiences.
The Songs:
Based on the themes laid out above, Ive selected two songs from each of Sam Beams offerings that seemed to typify his messages. I have included an appropriate lyric in what seemed to be the essence of each song to me.
From The Creek Drank The Cradle, its the search for real country, the real South, and the hope for a sense of ease. As mentioned above however, the tingling glimmer of death seems to be quietly lurking in the background of these songs.
Upward Over The Mountain
So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten,
Sons are like birds, flying upward over the mountain.
Mother I made it up from the bruise on the floor of this prison,
Mother I lost it, all of the fear of the Lord I was given.
Mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to,
Mother forgive me, I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you.
The Rooster Moans
Buzzard's breath, the rooster moans / Stow it boy, you're far from home.
Stow your sorrow, stow your fear / What did you do to end up here?
End up on the devil's rusty train
From Our Endless Numbered Days, death skulks out from the shadows, playing a more prominent role in Beams lyrics. The title of the album says so much, as even though good times, good people and strong love feel like they could last forever, everyone realizes that the clock continues to tick. Sam Beam embraces the carpe diem attitude with songs of love, but not without a sense of foreboding that it could all end very soon.Each Coming Night
Will you say to them when Im gone,
"I loved your son for his sturdy arms, / We both learned to cradle then live without."
Will you say to me when Im gone,
"Your face has faded but lingers on, / Because light strikes a deal with each coming night."
Love And Some Verses
Love is a dress that you made, / Long to hide your knees
Love to say this to your face, / "I'll love you only for your days and excitement
What will you keep for to wear? / Someday drawing you different, may I be weaved in your hair?
From Woman King, death still plays a prominent role, this time with women of the past and present. Beam provides a voice for strong female characters and brings their struggles, joys and beautiful attributes front and center.
Jezebel
Who's seen jezebel? / She was born to be the woman we could blame.
Make me a beast half as brave / Id be the same.
Who's seen jezebel? / She was gone before I ever got to say,
"Lay here my love / you're the only shape I'll pray to, Jezebel."
Freedom Hangs Like Heaven
Mary, carry your babe, / Bound up tight like lips around a whimper.
Your fingers over my face, / Blind eyed Samson driven to the temple.
And night birds digging until dawn, / Freedom hangs like heaven over everyone.
Ain't nobody knows what the newborn holds,
But his mama says he'll walk on water and wander back home
The Dénouement:
Music fans who like lyrically-based songs and songwriters with something to say usually like to be able to interpret a musicians message for themselves. Iron & Wines Sam Beam fits this role perfectly as he gives the listener just enough information so we understand the framework of the story. But so much of the process connecting the dots of his themes and stories is left up to our interpretation. We know this much, Beam is clearly giving thanks for what he has in his life (although to whom were not sure since he is agnostic). Despite the stories he tells (the Deep South, the greatness of love, or the strength of woman), were also painfully aware that Beam is watching the clock. The days he sings about might seem endless, but theyre numbered for all of us.
