"Portions for Foxes" is a series of weekly posts, each about one song by a woman or a band led by a woman. See the introduction for more.
Here's another song where I have to admit I don't know the background. It's a 2013 song by a singer-songwriter who has had more than a few records, I think a busy career, and is probably still out there, doing something interesting.
A song is a moment, and you can love a moment even if you don't know the whole story.
This is Stare at the Sun by Eleanor Friedberger, a mostly happy song with some depths and darknesses hiding within it. Because the sun is wonderful and warming and brings life to us all, but, as the title implies, you don't want to look directly at it, do you?
‘Cause when I’m with you everything’s treasure
I forget what it’s like to be gone
I’m far from the town in the suburbs of your pleasure
I've been in exile so long
The person she's singing to is the sun, by the way. That's the metaphor. Or maybe the relationship is the sun: you don't want to dwell on it too much, or that will ruin it.
The two of them are separating, maybe - could be for the day, or a tour, or something longer. The singer seems to be worried, somewhere deep inside, that it's not just a "see you at dinner" kind of separation.
If that was goodbye then you must be high
And maybe I'm losing the thread
It's an energetic song with a mostly happy sound and some lurking questions beneath: I love that kind of thing, those songs with depths and ambiguities. This is an excellent one; I hope you like it too.
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