To be young (is to be sad, is to be high)

Só recentemente me deixei deslumbrar pelo senhor que é Ryan Adams. Um singer-songwriter "a dar" para o folk country, com uma produção discográfica invejável (aos 33 anos tem nove albúns editados em nome próprio, dos quais destaco Heartbreaker e Cold Roses, a juntar aos quatro que editou ainda pelos Whiskeytown, a sua "alma mater"). Se Sufjan Stevens diz que quer fazer um albúm para cada Estado norte-americano e Zach Condon viajar pelos quatro cantos do mundo, de Bratislava a Nantes, Ryan, parece-nos querer entrar na "corrida" ao eu-lanço-mais-albúns-que-tu-por-ano. Um pequeno toque de sarcasmo, como é evidente. Sabemos perfeitamente que o palmarés não é a pedra de toque (para nenhum deles). E, aliás, a viagem de Ryan Adams é outra.

Desde a sua veneração por Sylvia Plath, a quem dedica um tema em Gold - And maybe she'd take me to France / Or maybe to Spain and she'd ask me to dance / In a mansion on the top of a hill ... How I wish I had a Sylvia Plath - revendo-a como protótipo do amor confessional e da intimidade - passando pelo desnorteio da juventude e dos seus bipolarismos - Oh the days the rain would fall your way / Then you be high cause you got sad - Ryan soa-nos a sofrido e mortificado pelo amor - Lover, why do you leave /On the day I want you for me? . Daí as reiteradas invocações aos desgostos de amor, como grande mote do estar não estando, do viver por viver - Two hearts fading, like a flower / And all this waiting, for the power / For some answer, to this fire /Sinking slowly. The water’s higher (ouvimos em "Deisre") - e aos joguinhos de sedução sob a lógica do "eu uso-te, tu usas-me" - I am a broken toy / For a lonely girl / Use once and destroy /And go find some more (em "She wants to play the game of hearts"). Mas quando o jogo termina só resta isto - I never wanted to be your dancin' shoes / I just wanted you to love me .

Daí a questão "How Do You Keep Love Aive?"

Lord, I miss that girl
On the day we met the sun was shining down
Down on the valley
Riddled with horses running
Crushing them with flowers
I would have picked for her
On the day she was born
She runs through my veins like a long black river
And rattles my cage like a thunderstorm
Oh my soul

What does it mean?
What does it mean?
What does it mean to be so sad?
When someone you love
Someone you love is supposed to make you happy
What do you do
How do you keep love alive?
When it won't
What, what are the words
They use when they know it's over
"We need to talk," or
"I'm confused, maybe later you can come over"
I would've held your mother's hand
On the day you was born
She runs through my veins
Like a long black river and rattles my cage
Like a thunderstorm
Oh, my soul
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
What does it mean to be so sad?
When someone you love
Someone you love is supposed to make you happy
What do you do
How do you keep love alive?
When it won't
How do you keep love alive?

Conclusão: Love Is Hell