“…This must have been when I first moved to Chicago. I went home for some holiday and went digging through my parents records then I found Still Bill by Bill Withers. I was like “Use Me,” “Lean on Me”—great! I had just gone through it with a woman who wasn’t in the right place to really be with me (blah blah blah, I just got out of a break up so I wrote songs that ended up on The Company You Keep.)”
“I remember it was snowing, everyone in the house was asleep and all I could really see was the LED off the record player and “Let Me in Your Life” came on. I don’t know how it escaped me, but holy hell that song hit me like a ton of bricks.
I must have put the needle back 10 times that night—in all fairness it’s a short song. It was for sure a moment and the vinyl was a little warped so it was like my own version of the tune. That song still gives me chills.
I don’t really consider “So Long” a break up song so much as a refusal to be sad about a break up anymore. I think that the upbeat tempo is really just a bit more of a release. So long is a phrase that’s got a positive connotation; it’s a bit of a going away party.
The song is addressed to someone who has moved on from the situation and now it’s just you and the ghost.
You realize you’ve been lying to yourself and keeping yourself in this bad spot and you’re choosing to leave feel better about it.
—Philip-Micheal Scale, Briar Rabbit
Briar Rabbit’s next album, From Your Bones, will be released on September 10th, 2013. The album was produced by Josh Moshier, a renowned Chicago jazz pianist, recorded by Mike Hagler (Wilco, Neko Case) and features contributions from Jeff Parker of Tortoise and Quin Kirchner of Wild Belle.
