Okay, so, being that women like Alanis Morisette and Tracy Chapman are actually some of my favorite artists, it's no surprise that I'm a fan of Crystal's style. But I went investigating today and found some of her pre-Idol stuff and, omg, she's so good. *_____* It's all amateur demos of just her and her guitar, no production or anything, but her voice has this beautiful clear tone that I love and she's got a LOT of songwriting talent. Aaaaahhhh can I buy her post-Idol album yet? I want it nowwww *grabby hands* (lol idgaf where she places. I just want her to sell me an album)
(Also on the plus side for me personally, because she sings so clearly and knows how to enunciate, when I really concentrate I can
actually understand what she's saying. LOL this is a big deal for me, song lyrics are normally just white noise to me. Half the time I couldn't tell you whether they were even in English. So, anyway, I transcribed the lyrics to a few of them as best I could.)
1.
Farmer's Daughter <-- If you only listen to one Crystal Bowersox song, PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS ONE
This song guts me. This was the first song I decided to transcribe the lyrics to, and without putting that level of concentration into it I wasn't fully aware of what the song was about, so it was while I was writing them down that the emotional impact fully hit me. Not even gonna lie, by the time I got to "
Honor thy mother and father too / But I know there ain't no way in Hell that God mentioned you" in the first verse I was already crying. lol /has issues. ANYWAY.
( Full lyrics behind the cut )2.
On the Run, one of my favorites. It's got a kind of quirky Ani DiFranco style guitar that I like. My favorite part is the way on the bridge she's belting those lines of "
Well I got my halo and got my gun / Got my guitar and got the sun / If it wasn't for the devil horns on my head / love you boy til I'm dead."
( Full lyrics behind the cut )3.
Holy Toledo, another of my favorites, is a kind of plaintive, yearning ballad. I think this is the song that showcases her beautiful vocal tone the best. I love the melody and the imagery when she sings "
My dreads are locked / my watch is stopped / my glass half full / my gun is half cocked." The vulnerability of her lyrics is always so gut-wrenching, very INTK/WIA Kris Allen to me.
( Full lyrics behind the cut )4.
Sandman, upbeat, same instrumental style as On the Run. Really like it.
5.
Speak Now, LOVE this song. It feels kind of like the emotional prequel to On the Run.
( Full lyrics behind the cut )6.
Cry no More, this one's got a more restrained quality than her others. She keeps her voice quiet and her guitar sparse until the very end.
7.
Saved by Grace, another of her quiet, sad ballads.
ETA: Chicago Acoustic Underground version, this version has a beautiful violin in it :O I love it. Crystal said she wrote this song about abortion and that once when she was performing this song at a gig she broke down in tears and could barely finish the song. She describes it as "a big Fuck You." Apparently on her own studio version (the one above?) she'd included "a creepy toy piano" on the instrumentals. I'm going to be horribly presumptuous and say I'm not sure she was crying because she herself had undergone an abortion, the lines "
If you can't use this, don't you dare abuse it / Save yourself the trouble, just throw it out" make me think this is another song she wrote about her mother.
( Full lyrics behind the cut )8.
Finally Got It Right, happy and sweet. Reminds me of a Jason Mraz song.
ETA: Chicago Acoustic Underground version, Crystal describes it as "all that cheesy, giddy crap" you feel at the beginning of a new relationship.
9.
Kiss Ya, this is her most Ani DiFranco song for me. It's also my least favorite of her demos, there's some "aaaaah ahhhhh oooooooh" going on in the background that I'm not fond of, and her voice isn't the best on this one either.
Also, the internet is taunting me because there are four other songs of hers that USE to be up on various music websites for streaming, but I guess all of her accounts got purged as part of the Idol scrub. >:| I wanttttt theeeeem. /whining
LOL so, uh, if you ever happen to see an mp3 of Crystal singing her song Hellbent, let me know, okay?ETA: People found more songs! \o/
Still no sign of Hellbent yet though. :(So Crystal did a podcast with the
Chicago Acoustic Underground, on which she performed 5 songs, only two of which I already have. :D You can listen to it or download it at their website, though I've ripped her songs and included any interesting song-related banter in this post.
10.
Put Your Guitar Down, a song Crystal wrote while dating somebody who plays guitar, about feeling jealousy when your SO pays more attention to their musical instrument than you. LOL it's got this slinky maraca in the background which I think is kinda cool.
11.
Grey-haired Rockstar, a song she wrote for the local legends that took her under their wing when she younger, showed her how to deal with bar owners, lol. Old-timers called the Dry Bones Revival who would play for 4 hours never complaining, just for love of the music.
12.
Mama, understandably, she didn't do a big intro for this song other than to say "me and Mama didn't always get along." It feels like she wrote it about that same emotion/moment-in-time that inspired Farmer's Daughter, only this song is slow and regretful where Farmer's Daughter has more anger in it.
Let me know if any other songs turn up :DDDD
ETA 2: \o/ I knew I could have faith in AI fandom's ability to instantaneously rip shit 19 doesn't want on the internet before it gets yanked. People found and uploaded Crystal's four other songs!
13.
Hellbent \o/ \o/ \o/ OMG it's just as awesome as the title led me to believe it would be. It's a dark and angry political song, featuring soundbites of Bush and Condoleezza Rice (I think) talking about the terrorists who "pray to a false god." I love the backup vocals on this track, they lend it this dark, ominous tone. "
You must be happy now you're doing God's work / Women and children laying cold in the dirt."
( Full lyrics behind the cut )14.
Patience, a song about chasing after someone, begging them to love you.
15.
Sunflower Sunshine, lol this song has, like, a clap track or something, kind of like Alli's Beat Me Up. Only on this song I find it kind annoying. As the title would imply, it's an upbeat happy love song about being head over heels for somebody, along the lines of her other song Finally Got It Right.
16.
Just Want to Love Ya Before I Leave, lol omg, Crystal stop making me cry when I listen to your songs. At the beginning her own voice has this quaver like she's on the edge of tears herself, which doesn't help me. It's a song to a loved one from the point of view of someone who is dying. Knowing the battle she has with her diabetes, picturing her singing this to her little son, I just, I can't even. GAH. "
The doctor says I'm gonna go / I'm losing this fight / But not done yet, no, not tonight."
THE UPDATED UPDATED ZIP FILE WITH 16 BOWERSOX ORIGINALS.....I think that's everything out there that she wrote herself. I'd be happy to be proven wrong though. :D
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