my careless contagion

Written in 1987 and released in 1990, the song Ball and Chain is found on Social Distortion's self-titled album. Some of the timeless themes this song deals with are addiction, hopelessness, heartbreak, poverty, failure, and suicide — all themes I am intimately familiar with — and all made life feel like a ball and chain and not worth living. I know what it's like to think, "I can't take any more pain." This is a song I know by heart but heard yesterday on the radio, which isn't entirely strange, except I'm not sure how many people are familiar with Social Distortion in South Dakota or how many of them are listening to the radio on a Sunday afternoon. That's okay; we don't have to know what we're listening to in order to enjoy it, right? Well, except Social Distortion sings a lot of "hard luck" songs, which are an acquired taste. As Social Distortion's singer, Mike Ness, has been known to say, "We don't sing no happ...

The Gaslight Anthem is a band that is hard to describe. They are one of the brightest spots in rock and roll in the past 15 years. I can't describe their first two albums in any other terms but "genius" and "perfect." They are that good. I remember seeing them in Columbus, Ohio. As I recall, the audience was a good mix of young and old, which is always a good thing. It shows a band has an appeal beyond a certain demographic. It was a good show, even though we were in the balcony. The Gaslight Anthem is fronted by Brain Fallon, and they are originally from New Jersey. An odd fact about the album this song is from (The '59 Sound) is Dicky Barrett (of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) sings backup on one of the tracks.  Right from the start, The Gaslight Anthem was compared to some of the best rock acts of all time. Bruce Springsteen was an obvious comparison, but the band borrows so widely, I think that's almost an unfair comparison. They were too good to...

There's no hope for me. I've gone off the deep end. I hesitate to talk to her because I know it gets worse afterward. If I don't talk to her, I know I can go on for a while. When I hear her voice, I know I can't. I want her now.  When she goes away, it's like a hole being torn in my chest. It becomes an ill-fated attempt to touch her. The reaching never ends because I never actually touch her. So begins the desperate crawl through my days and weeks until she becomes less real. Gradually, the hole fills in. Until the next time she crashes into my world.  I've missed her 100,000 different ways, sometimes all in the same day. I don't know what to do with myself; none of this even seems possible. Yet, I am wholly, completely, tragically, hopelessly in love with her. I would do anything for her, and I have. She asked me to step away from her, which is the hardest thing I've ever done. She needed time; she needed space. You know, those things th...