I normally shy away from reviews of artists whose sound follows so clearly in the paths of (and occasionally closely resembles) those of others whom I enjoy — namely Bruce Springsteen, Conor Oberst, Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg, Damien Rice and the like. I was sent a press reminder about David Ford’s terrific release Songs For The Road and had a chance to listen through the album. While I was listening I was stopped dead in my tracks by the next-to-last song on the record, entitled “Requiem” — a completely appropriate companion to the annals of historically great protest songs. “Every administration blames the one from last year,” Ford sings to us as if we should know he is right, “so when consequence calls, there’ll be nobody here.”
It’s more than simply a wonderful piece of work, fierce in its delivery and angry in its resonance — “Requiem” strikes me as a important and necessary piece of songwriting for the times in which we are currently living. It bespeaks and bemoans the tragedy of our excesses as a people, shames us (as good protest songs should) for being the victims of our own gluttony and fear. It paints a picture of the kind of fear that grips us for refusing to accept our part in the way things have become. This is a song whose time is right now, for better or worse. We’d all better start learning the words.
BONUS: David Ford performing live at legendary Sun Studio in Memphis.
Visit David on MySpace at http://myspace.com/davidford. Buy Songs For The Road from Amazon by clicking here.
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