I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
it's been a long time coming
as you shed a lonesome tear
now your in a wonderama
I wonder what your doing here
the flame no longer flickers
you're feeling just like a fool
you keep staring into your liquor
I'm wondering what to do
I don't hardly know you
but I'd be willing to show you
I know a way to make you smile
let me touch you for a while
I'm gonna ruin my black mascara
you're drinking whiskey when it should be wine
you keep on looking in to that mirror
but to me your looking really fine
I don't hardly know you
but I'd be willing to show you
I know a way to make you laugh at that cowgirl as she's walking out your door
I know a way to make you smile
just let me whisper things
you never heard before
just let me touch you baby
just let me touch you for a while
I don't hardly know
but I'd be willing to show you
I know a way to make you smile
It's been a long time
let me touch you for a while
as you shed a lonesome tear
now your in a wonderama
I wonder what your doing here
the flame no longer flickers
you're feeling just like a fool
you keep staring into your liquor
I'm wondering what to do
I don't hardly know you
but I'd be willing to show you
I know a way to make you smile
let me touch you for a while
I'm gonna ruin my black mascara
you're drinking whiskey when it should be wine
you keep on looking in to that mirror
but to me your looking really fine
I don't hardly know you
but I'd be willing to show you
I know a way to make you laugh at that cowgirl as she's walking out your door
I know a way to make you smile
just let me whisper things
you never heard before
just let me touch you baby
just let me touch you for a while
I don't hardly know
but I'd be willing to show you
I know a way to make you smile
It's been a long time
let me touch you for a while
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
The song is about a guy that always "picks the wrong girl". He comes into the bar again and again ALONE because he always ends up that way. She is a bartender and watched him again and again doing this to himself over and over (in the video). She says "You are drinking whiskey when you should be drinking wine" Meaning you are killing pain when the pain shouldn't be there in the first place. People often drink whiskey to kill pain and wine to celebrate or romantically. That is a cliche in all country/bluegrass music. She is saying stop wasting your love and time on "fly by night cowgirls" that keep bringing you down and give me a try for something real.
ok i'm not a huge fan of country but i really like this chick's voice...and its a cute song overall. "i know a way to make you smile..." has to be my favorite line. sometimes there are people you know that all you have to do is think of them...and then you smile. thats when you know you truly care about them. :)
What a beautiful voice, and great musicianship. "So Long, So Wrong" and "New Favorite" are 2 of my favorite albums of all time. Country and bluegrass songs are often times very simple, and looking for a deeper meaning in them can lead you away from the actual meaning that is right there in front of you. Make no mistake about it, she is not talking about making someone smile by thinking about her...it is about a bold and forthright woman who wants to share her desire for pleasure with a man who is apparently in a state where he could really use it........
Somebody finally managed to retrofit blue grass for the 21st Century! Alison Krauss rocks! (Even though she doesn't)
AK is not Country. . .she is BLUEGRASS, there is a difference, believe me! Same feel, but different roots.
I love this song. Anyone who has just listened to it should go on youtube and see it performed live. Seriously, it'll bring it to a whole new level.
"I don't hardly know you", I think, means she doesn't know him very long or very well but she knows enough to know how to make him smile. Some people can do that. It seems to have sexual implications too - I know a way to make you smile.
Alison Krauss didn't actually write it, I forget who did, but it's the same guy who wrote "The Lucky One".
Her band are amazing. Jerry Douglas and Dan Tyminski kick ass. So talented.
I agree with PunkStarr! It's a cute song.
AK DOES Rock! She plays a mean fiddle!!
It's sweet. But what does "I don't hardly know you" means: that she hardly knows him, that she don't know him or that she knows him quite well? It seems a bit double to me. And I don't get the "You're drinking whiskey when it should be wine" - I mean, if you like whiskey more... but OK, if it goes as fast as wine you might get into trouble.
It's really too bad that this has never happened in the history of humanity, because GOD DAMN could I use it! hahaha