The album opens with “Used To
Know It All,” in which Dulcie Taylor sings “Up
to my neck in uncertainty/Ignorance is bliss/Lord, I sure do miss/When I used
to know it all.” I know the feeling. These days nothing makes sense. The
train has gone off the rails, and people are not just ignorant, but stupid.
(Have you tried to hold a conversation with a Trump supporter? It’s like they’ve
been living on a completely different planet, a horrible place that has now
collided with our world.) Dulcie has one of those fantastic voices seemingly
custom-made for country and folk music, though this song is also a bit of blues.
Here are some lines I need to keep in mind these days: “Help me to remember it’s all about love/And forgiveness, and let that
be enough.” “Used To Know It All” is followed by “God Did Me A Favor,”
which has a sweet, pleasant, loving vibe. This song seems the natural follow-up
to “Used To Know It All,” because here it really is all about love, just as she
said. “At first, you were hard to
trust/Because I had just about given up/I was ready to run/Now look what you’ve
done/You put the song in my soul/You put the beat in my heart.” Nice,
right? This album features a lot of good lyrics, like these lines from “Watch
Me Hurt”: “But you don’t trust
love/Trouble’s what you want.” “Watch Me Hurt” is one of the album’s most
intriguing and effective songs. “I know
you broke my heart on purpose/You needed to watch me hurt.”
My favorite track is “The Moon
Is Cold,” a beautiful folk song that grabbed me, with Dulcie Taylor’s intimate,
quiet delivery pulling me in close. And, like all of the songs on this album, this
tune features some really good lyrics. Check out these lines: “Deceit has many faces/It can even look like
love” and “The moon is cold and has
no light/It mirrors the sun when it shines in the night.” Then the first
line of “I Do” is “Everybody gets scared
sometimes.” Sometimes? It’s nearly a constant state in these days of
unhinged, demented and thoroughly stupid leaders. First thing we do each
morning is get online to see if the country still exists. But this song is not
about any of that, don’t worry. It’s actually a comforting, soothing promise
that we’re not alone. “You don’t ever have
to wonder who/Has got your back, I promise you/I do.” Ah, just having one
person say that to us – and mean it – can pull any of us through, right? “Whatever comes down the road/We’ll face
together, you won’t be alone.”
The next song, however, is
about our current troubles – at least our environmental ones. “Halfway To Jesus”
addresses climate change, a serious and terrifying problem (and anyone who
denies climate change should be smacked across the face over and over until he
or she comes to his or her senses). The phrase “Halfway to Jesus” here means halfway
to death. “The polar caps are
melting/Hear them cracking on the wind/Like the sound of distant gunfire/In a fight
no one will win/We’ve only got this one world/We’re all here together/If we
want to keep on sailing/We’ve got to fix it, now or never.” This song feels
particularly appropriate today, as yet another storm batters us. I dig the
intense instrumental section in the second half of the track. And remember: “It ain’t like we haven’t been warned.” “Dove
Crying In My Window” has a somber, sad tone. The album then concludes with “Better
Part Of Me,” the album’s title track and the one song that Dulcie Taylor did
not have a hand in writing. This one was written by George Nauful. Lines like “Things you can’t deny are true” and “In a world full of illusions” feel so
apt these days, don’t they? This song has a kind of subtle power.
CD Track List
- Used To Know It All
- God Did Me A Favor
- Watch Me Hurt
- Long Gone
- The Moon Is Cold
- I Do
- Halfway To Jesus
- Hearts Have To Break
- Shining In His Eyes
- Dove Crying In My Window
- Better Part Of Me
Better Part Of Me was released
on March 9, 2018 on Black Iris Records.
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