3:05
The Saint Of Lost Causes, 2019
Written by Justin Townes Earle
Like a hundred songs from pop, rock, country, and funk, this song is the voice of the downtrodden whose condition and attitude some cold hard cash would greatly ameliorate. But where some songs, such as "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash," play it for laughs, and some like "Why Don't You Do Right" come off as teasing, there is a real desperation in Earle's delivery. This is a man who is wrecked. Over a vaguely "Come Together" type of primitive blues-rock whose swagger belies the lyrical content, he sings, "I've been taken in pieces, I've been sold off cheap / I've been spread out all over the Southeast." He needs to get to New Orleans. Women don't tempt him, either. "I don't want your honey / I can make my own / Well now, you keep your sugar / Well I, I'm plenty sweet, Lord / Give me some money / Or just leave me alone." It's hard not to think of Earle's heroin addiction when you hear this single-minded urgency.