What impressed me most about his song writing is how he was able to throw in a phrase here or there that brought you up short. Lines like the last words in the song "Boots Like These", "You've got to live my life to get boots like these". On one level it can be taken as a personal plea for understanding, but on another it can be read as a general comment on people's tendency to judge anybody. The old saying,"walk a mile in somebody else's shoes", reminds us that we can't possibly understand what another has gone through unless we have experienced what life has thrown at them. In his song Harper sings, "Tonight I'm going to lose my mind/Tonight I need to lose my mind/Tonight I'm trying to lose my mind", and then follows that two lines later with "I gotta get out from inside my head".
There are a million reasons why people need to escape from themselves, and a million ways that people can find to make that escape, and unless you know what demons are troubling them, who are we to judge what they do to make their life bearable. With that one line at the end of the song, Harper reminds us that we can't possibly hope to understand how anybody ended up being who or what they are, because we've not had to live through the same shit they did. He's not offering any excuses for behaviour, but he's telling us there's always an explanation and we should try to keep that in mind before we jump to conclusions about anybody.
Article comments
1 - Mike
You know, I just saw this tour in Chicago. And while Harper is so incredibly talented, it didn't come through. Much of the best guitar playing was left for Mozersky. I don't feel it was the best representation of Harper's true range. Anyway, I put up a review of the Chicago show on if anyone is interested.