Serengeti

I guess the first thing I should mention about "Savannah" is that it actually takes up three tracks on the album, which I had forgotten about.  Not only does the song have a tag-track at the end of it, but it has a preamble to come before it.  That's a pretty good chunk of the album there, so I guess, maybe "Savannah" is important (that was sarcasm)?

It's a calmer song than "Sahara," as I've mentioned before, but it has its moment of strong emotion.  The emotions are different, too.  Here, read the lyrics.


Oasis
(lyrics by Matthew Thiessen)

Savannah (repeated lots)


Savannah
(lyrics by Matthew Thiessen)

Savannah
I hope to be there by the morning
And see this pining all transforming
Into the arms of the Georgia sun.

Savannah
I'd love to feel the heat—the sunrise
Brushing rays across my windshield
As if one dries the streams from off my face

Yet I know you'll be there
'Cause you'll know I'll want you to be there
And we'll say hello
As you're smiling in love
And we'll sigh, so relieved
I believe because we will both know by tonight
We'll feel normal again
But until then

Savannah
Our backs supported by a hammock
We sum up perfection like a handbook
And God knows it all too well.

Savannah
We'll take a walk to find the gift shop
Who would have thought the book that you bought
Would never come off the shelf.

Yet I know you'll be there
'Cause you'll know I'll want you to be there
And we'll say hello
As I'm smiling in love
And we'll sigh, so relieved
I believe because we will both know by tonight
We'll feel normal again
But until then
Until then
Until then

Baby
I spent my life wondering
Wondering when I'd find you
I searched for all these years and now you're right here
I need you to know that
Everything makes sense when you're with me.

Savannah
Walk out into the sultry evening
Cotton breathing when the sea winds
Brush the hair down around your neck

Savannah
You hold my hand like it's the first time
And all the feelings that are hard to find
Will be just what we expect

Yet I know you'll be there
'Cause you'll know I'll want you to be there
And we'll say hello
As you're smiling in love
And we'll sigh, so relieved
I believe because we will both know by tonight
We'll feel normal again
But until then
Until then
Until then

Baby
(lyrics by Matthew Thiessen)

Baby
It's all that I can do to thank you
'Cause every time you wrapped those arms around me
I felt I was home 'cause
Everything made sense when you were with
Me

----

If there's a song on the album where Thiessen first forgets not to slow down, it's "Savannah," but even then the song strides forward on plucked strings (guitar and cello both).  Musically it reminds me of Candlelight in the rhythms of the music.  One of the aesthetic choices Thiessen makes in "Savannah" is to repeat the title at the head of (almost) every stanza aside from the choruses.  The one exception is the stanza that begins with "baby," which is incidentally reprised in the same-titled afterthought.  This repetition adds to the effect of pushing the music forward.

When this song begins, narrator-Thiessen seems to be going to meet his lover.  This is an interesting choice for subject after a song about desertion and desolation.  Thiessen's language throughout the song is lush with strong mental images (feeling the sunrise like a hand brushing tears from his face,  personifying the sun, the perfection of relaxing in a hammock, etc.) that create a sort of aura of quiet joy—the joy after a great sadness, or maybe before it.

And in the chorus Thiessen repeats that he knows his love will meet him, and that things will be well, will be better again.  Yet the chorus ends with "until then," and you can tell in the tone of Thiessen's voice and in the way the silence of the song plays out that "then" is never going to come.

In the second verse, lines like "God knows it all too well" and "who would have thought the book that you bought would never come off the shelf" remind us that something has ended between Thiessen and the one he's singing to.  And still he insists that she will be there.

And then in the stanza begun by "baby" (but still in "Savannah") Thiessen makes it sound as if he's found the One, and that they're meant to be together, will be together.  Even in the end, he says that "the feelings that are hard to find will be just what we expect."

So what does all of this mean?  Well, let's look at "Baby," the tag-song to "Savannah."  When this track starts, its with heavily distorted guitars, as opposed to the plucking cello of its parent song.  Thiessen's voice is also filtered, and there's dripping sarcasm in his voice when he says, "It's all that I can do to thank you."  Then, the distortion suddenly cuts away as he tells her, "Everything made sense when you were with me."  You can hear the sadness of heartbreak in his voice for that line.  "Baby" is a mockery of "Savannah," present because it's more honest than the pipe dream Thiessen presents in "Savannah."  And though it mocks the sentiments in "Savannah," "Baby" is in some ways more honest, especially in that final moment, which reveals why Thiessen would choose to sing Savannah.

I'd like to think that this set of three tracks is a sort of microcosm for the whole album.  The pre-track foreshadows what is coming ahead (as "Forget and Not Slow Down" and "I don't Need a Soul" do) literally, by repeating the title in almost whispered tones.  The song itself is beautiful, but not entirely honest, though we catch glimpses of the truth inside.  Then, as the set of three ends, more of Thiessen's bitterness and pain comes through, only to end with a profound sweetness and sadness.

What follows tomorrow is "If You Believe Me," a more energetic reflection on Thiessen's relationship, containing the sort of honesty that wasn't quite there before.  But we'll talk about that tomorrow, when the time comes.  For now, you should listen through the album so far.

Seriously, what other reason is there for me to do this big hairy analysis thing but to get people to listen to Forget and Not Slow Down a lot?

None.  There is no other reason.