"(Was I) In Your Dreams" A tinge of country blues here. Tweedy sounds honest without any sense of pretension. It's easy to get comfortable with this one. I like it.
Every early afternoon I watch this thread, contemplating the time difference between North Carolina (@Parachute Woman) and France (@myself), impatiently waiting for her to wake up and start the ball rolling !
I'm up! Here we go: Why Would You Wanna Live If any song can be deemed the MVP of this deep dive into Being There for me, it's this one. It never stood out to me very much previously, but as I have been returning again and again to this album over the past couple of weeks 'Why Would You Wanna Live' has really started to shine. There is a lot more going on here than I initially thought, including really solid melodicism, a fun and funky arrangement featuring what amounts to basically a two note banjo solo followed by a fiddle solo (?!) and a lot of warmth and heart. This isn't Jeff doing the world weary thing (as much as I love that). This one has a wink and a sly grin about it. If the title sounds depressed at first, listens will swiftly reveal how wry the sentiment is and it does switch up in the final refrain. 'Why wouldn't you want to live in this world?' This song is really charming and it has become a highlight of the second disc for me. This is the kind of song that gets better and better the more you get to know it.
This is a really interesting song; while normally the fiddles and violin would make it seem like a country-rock/alt country throwback, somehow this feels utterly modern (for the time it was recorded), the piano, slide guitar and brushed drums feeling more R&B than country; all of that leads to a rather post-modern feel, as does the piano solo at the end, where the band really feels like everything is falling apart but it somehow sounds rather pretty. The lyric or the vocal melody, actually, doesn't do all that much for me, but the fresh way the song is presented keeps me guessing and keeps me interested.
A very cool little song. It is a really interesting bit of writing... almost a show tune or musichall kind of thing, with an Americana twist. Very different to the other stuff here, to my ears. Interesting vocal phrasing. The changes in feel and timing are interesting to. This ends up being a really interesting song, even if you dont find it to be in the upper reaches on the album, it is really interesting enough to add more colours and flavour. Reminding me what a strong album this is.
That song was my own great rediscovery when I bought the vinyl box reissue a few years ago. The alternate take with the "call & response" psychedelic vocal effects helped me appreciate more its pop melodicism, which kind of eluded me until then. Here it is, : Now I love both versions and it has grown to become one of my favorite tracks in the LP, because, as @Lance LaSalle just pointed, it succeeds in being current and almost experimental while using a supposedly "old time" instrumental backing, a bit like the Band could do. Jeff's voice tone is pure genius, as is his sense of phrasing (one of his stronger suits, as we all know).
Thanks for pointing this out. The alternate version here is the same backing track, right? With the only alterations being in the various vocals effects - making the song seem a lot more psychedelic than otherwise. I’m still catching up on exploring the outtakes on the reissue bonus disc so this helps.
Why Would You Wanna Live Opening with a simple piano, snare drum and vocal. ‘Kid you’ve paid your dues.’ Then ‘why...would you wanna live in this world?’ and the slide and a backing chorus joins in. The bridge: banjo, honky tonk piano and violin. ‘I know you’ve watched the news.’ And ending with some blues runs on the piano. Vocals and lyrics are pretty dark but it doesn’t come off that way to me because of the contrasting music which is bare bones but pretty upbeat. At least I think so. I wrote this commentary yesterday and suddenly realized that I’d mixed up comments about this song and The Lonely 1, and had mashed it all together! It took a bit of thought to untangle it. (And I’m still not 100% sure I did.) Another playlist song.
Yes, Why Would You Wanna Live is definitely one of those rewarding deep album cuts. Again, others have already described it well; I also noticed that "why wouldn't you" near the end. The alternate version isn't dramatically different. Being There is ending very strongly.
Another great song and one that adds more depth to this double album. I love the bouncy melody and the piano stands out for me. Experimental with just enough " comfort music " to make it palatable for the band's alt-country following. I always took the lyrics as Why Would You Wanna Live in whatever negative world you're living in, kind of an optimistic charge. " Kid, you've paid your dues ".
Why Would You Wanna Live: Not one of the album highlights for me, but still essential to the character of the album. It's Wilco reaching out to find another realm of existing styles to explore, but putting their own stamp on it.
I know "Why Would You Wanna Live" is one of the deepest cuts of the album, a song they currently play so rarely that there's not even a single clip on YouTube (though I believe there is a version on the IATTBYH DVD from '01/'02, when it was more of a live staple), but I really like this song! I love the tight, staccato rhythm, and I love how it releases on the bridge. All the little pieces add up on this one: the deep rhythmic piano, the circular banjo lick, the acoustic guitar run in the last verse. I like @Rockford & Roll's interpretation of the lyrics.
"Why Would You Wanna Live" shares some hallmarks of "Far, Far Away"--a 4/4 verse (but sometimes with a banjo playing half-note triplets, implying a 3/4 time), and then a chorus in 3/4 or, more likely, 6/8. The piano, especially in the 6/8 outro, adds a kind of rag feel, which is especially nice after the staccato march of the verses. I think someone mentioned cabaret; the song would have fit well with the outtake "Capitol City," later revived on The Whole Love, and presages what Wilco would do on the next record with tracks like "Pieholden Suite." There are a lot of musical ideas happening in this short little tune, this sleepy deep album cut. It's wonderful. I also think it's a turning point thematically. It's all happened here before, I know you've seen it too. Kid, you've paid your dues. Well, if you're a touring musician, you know what paying your dues means. Gigging. Night after night, perfecting your craft for little pay and littler respect. Getting out there and doing it before you're ready for the big time. Getting ready. The weariness of the road, with all the depression and resignation it brings. Why would you wanna live in this world? You've seen the news. But then there's the turn. Why wouldn't you wanna live in this world? What alternative do you really have but to embrace this life and this music and keep going? And then comes the full embrace of music fandom of "The Lonely 1" and the late night, let it all hang loose romp of "Dreamer in My Dreams." I'm a dad now, I've got my kid to think of, this is it. Do it for him. this record is dedicated to spencer miller tweedy "[O]nce upon a time, Jeff Tweedy had to conjure this band out of his imagination. The first step was deciding to not give up on rock and roll. 'In the end, that was the punch line,' Tweedy told Fricke 20 years ago as he reflected on his just-released masterwork, 'that music is important.'"
"Why Would You Wanna Live"- This album impresses me as much as it did 24 years ago. Another song that I love. I liked hearing that alternate version with the vocal effects. It instantly made me think this song also has a slight Grateful Dead vibe going on. While "Forget the Flowers" is more American Beauty and Workingman's Dead, this song with the added effects and the blending of different styles recalls Aoxomoxoa. I never picked up on this before. Great playing on this song all the way around! Two fabulous deep tracks back to back and a big reason why this is such a classic Wilco album. 5/5
I've never seen the band, or Tweedy, play "Why Would You Wanna Live." I came one night away from it in 2002--they played it on 10/15/2002 in DC. Since those days, it's only grown rarer.
I was lucky to see it the first time I saw them, in fall '01. Too early in the game for me to really appreciate it! I don't think I've seen it since.
A little bit "off topic' and getting a bit ahead, but this month's "Front of the House" Wilco show on Nugs is from May of 2004 at a venue called Otto's in DeKalb, Illinois. Looks like a solid A Ghost is Born show, setlist wise.
The second night of the first shows after Jeff left rehab, and before AGIB was released in June that year. If I'm not mistaken, these were warm-up shows before the band went to play Primavera Sound in Barcelona. They then started the US tour proper in June in Pittsburgh. I saw them three nights later in DC; Jeff literally bounded onto the stage, skipping and smiling.
