“The floor will have its way, it seems”, begins Joe Henry on this 1996 gem, “it fights me like a trampoline”. The groove has a sprightly bounce, but it’s not fully warm, fully organic; there’s an edge there – as if a double-bounce is just around the corner, ready to send you flying off toward the springs. Joe knows it. It’s the whole point of the track. “This time I’m not coming down,” he sings defiantly, but gravity is already tugging at his toes.
I love this lyric. The first verse seems purely physical, but before long we’re diving onto the emotional trampoline of a relationship. Henry’s last verse is a requiem that deserves quoting in full:
And if I really thought I could
I’d give up your ghost for good
But I’m not sure it isn’t you
That keeps my ghost from leaving tooBut I don’t miss you half as much
As who you made me think I was
When I could see myself the way you do
and I could almost see myself in you
Sure, he’s not coming down.