Amy Ray and Emily Saliers met in elementary school, began playing together in high school, and by the time they reached Emory University, they had become the Indigo Girls. They released their first single in 1985, an EP later that same year, and their first full-length album in 1987. They then signed to Epic Records and released their first major label album in 1988, which also became their first hit. Over the course of the last thirty-four years, the Indigo Girls have released fifteen studio albums (two of which hit the top ten), three live albums, and five compilations. Both Ray and Saliers have released solo albums, but they continue to tour and record together, having released their latest album in 2015 and completing their most recent tour in 2018. They have been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, and won once for Best Folk Album. Ray and Saliers are both very politically active, having associations with environmental groups, animal rights groups, anti-death penalty groups, and are considered icons in the gay rights movement (both are lesbians). Overall, a nice little career for the duo.
"Closer to Fine" was the first single released from their ever so cleverly named 1988 album, Indigo Girls. It would go on to be the highest charting single of their career, reaching #58 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. They are joined by the Irish band Hothouse Flowers for backing vocals on the single.
Fun Fact: There's a great scene in the movie The Hollars (hardly an Oscar nominee but well worth 90 minutes of your time) where as a woman is being carted into surgery for a brain tumor, her two sons and her husband serenade her with "Closer to Fine." Not quite as good as the Indigo Girls' version, but uplifting in its own way.
Written by Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls do not collaborate on their songwriting, just work together on the arrangements once they're in the studio), "Closer to Fine" is a song about the many paths that life offers us to happiness, and that the less one thinks about said paths, the happier one is likely to be (as an official old fart, I can attest to the accuracy of this). There are several aspects of the song that stand out to me--first being, as a devotee of the acoustic guitar, is the wondrous harmony between Ray and Saliers guitar playing, which shines through the song. Though written by Saliers, Ray takes the lead vocals, but Saliers harmonizing on the chorus is as wondrous as their acoustic guitars. But what really takes the song to another level for me is one of those special moments that so many great songs have, and in "Closer to Fine" it's where their voices jump up an octave as they accentuate the word "fine." It not only makes for fun singing along, but emphasizes the notion that they are indeed fine, and that happiness is right at their fingertips. I can honestly say this is one of the better folks songs of the last thirty years, and one that reminded me of the joy I took from folks music, and would send me on a folk finding spree that would last for the better part of the next ten years. A great, great song.
Lyric Sheet: "And I went to see the doctor of philosophy/With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee/He never did marry or see a B-grade movie..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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