David Baewarld – “Hello Mary”
So what’re ya drinkin’?
No, I gave it up.
It was nothing like that,
just enough became enough.
Tell me about your life,
tell me about your man.
No, I was only curious,
I was thinkin’ you’d understand.
Okay, we won’t talk about your man.
I enjoyed this song when I first heard it in 1990, but it took ages to fully grow into it. For the longest time, my greatest appreciation was technical; I fell in love with the idea of telling stories with half the pieces missing, a love that echoes today in most of the shit I write.
But loving it for what it’s saying took years. In my twenties, it just felt like more Boomer nostalgia… and to a degree, that’s what it is. (Baerwald has a whole cluster of songs about old friends and lovers reconvening to celebrate/mourn the past.)
Now, though, I see it’s also an ode to the death of memory and the life of narrative. it’s about that moment when you realize you’ve lived long enough to no longer truly remember the major experiences of your life, and all you have left are the stories you’ve told about them.
I just called
to check and see
if my memory’s correct
and you mean a thing to me.