Wilco's new album, The Whole Love, concludes with a song unlike any I've ever heard from a Jeff Tweedy band. It's twelve minutes long, but not for the sake of a guitar freak-out (Poor Places). Nor does it want to pound home a point, or feeling (Misunderstood).
A critic from Aquarium Drunkard describes it eloquently:
The Whole Love closes with “One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend),” a twelve-minute narrative based around a simple acoustic guitar figure that slowly unfolds to reveal gentle vibes and light percussion. If “Like A Rolling Stone” was Dylan’s noisy kiss-off to the folk music scene and -tradition that raised him, “One Sunday Morning” is Tweedy’s inversed equivalent—the song revolves around a son’s recollection of the falling-out between he and his father. But where Dylan is cocksure, towering on warbling keys and a swagger of harmonica, Tweedy sings nearly under his breath; that repetitive guitar run and the rattling percussion are the closest thing to filigree the song allows for. “Something sad keeps moving / So I wandered around,” Tweedy sings shortly after the father’s death. “I fell in love with the burden / Holding me down.” The death of the father, the rejection of all he stood for, and the crackle in Tweedy’s voice—all are devastating. “What I learned without knowing / How much more I owe than I can give,” he sings as the song exhales. It’s a song of remorse, of a very deep love whose full expression comes in its final few minutes, the music continuing well after Tweedy has said his final word.
All true, but you won't hear the lyrics the first few times around — the music is too sweet.The lyrics ache, but the music soothes. This is Tweedy exploring out loud the pain he cannot forget. Greatness.
12 One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend) 1
Kit Stolz 