There’s one thing that’s real clear to me/
No one dies with dignity…
Jason Isbell’s “Elephant” may be one of the most emotionally moving songs you will ever hear. Elephant will disturb you. Can this make for great music? Yes. If a song can evoke any feeling in you that is a success. The point of art (if there is one) is to try to convey a feeling from one person to another through a particular medium.
Elephant discusses how we deal with our friends dying. Dying is really the only thing to talk about, but at the same time, time is short, and what is there really to say? Nothing will change the fact that the end is near. So, we dance around the elephant in the room and don’t mention the change in our dynamic. Is this the best way to handle a loved one dying? Probably not. But what is the alternative? Addressing the elephant is an equally bad alternative. Who wants to talk about the fact that soon your friend will be gone?
Elephant is in the country and blues tradition. Isbell’s voice is rightfully restrained. The sound is stripped down to just a guitar, background piano and Isbell’s voice. You could imagine a lesser singer ruining this song by adding unwanted vocal runs which distract from the lyrics and the somber tone.
Elton John’s Last Song and Death Cab for Cutie’s What Sara Said are two other fine songs that deal with death. None are sing-alongs, but each is emotionally moving in their own way.
Elephant Lyrics
She said, “Andy, you’re better than your past”
Winked at me and drained her glass
Cross-legged on a barstool, like nobody sits anymore
She said, “Andy, you’re taking me home”
But I knew she planned to sleep alone
I’d carry her to bed, sweep up the hair from her floor
If I’d fucked her before she got sick
I’d never hear the end of it
She don’t have the spirit for that now
We just drink our drinks and laugh out loud
And bitch about the weekend crowd
And try to ignore the elephant somehow
Somehow
She said, “Andy, you crack me up”
Seagram’s in a coffee cup
Sharecropper eyes, and the hair almost all gone
When she was drunk, she made cancer jokes
Made up her own doctors’ notes
Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone
But I’d sing her classic country songs
And she’d get high and sing along
She don’t have a voice to sing with now
We burn these joints in effigy
And cry about what we used to be
Try to ignore the elephant somehow
Somehow
I buried her a thousand times, given up my place in line
But I don’t give a damn about that now
There’s one thing that’s real clear to me
No one dies with dignity
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow
Somehow
Somehow
Song by Jason Isbell