Acoustic

The Poet Game

 

It’s tough enough keeping up with all of the new music out there when you’re still discovering great music from years past. It’s a perpetual cycle, but that’s what is so great about music: you’ll never hear it all, and there’s always something hiding waiting to be unearthed. Like this song here? I don’t know much about Greg Brown, but every time I hear his songs, I like them. Especially this one I heard recently. Soft, heartfelt, and simple.

Greg Brown: The Poet Game (mp3) –  from The Poet Game, 1994.

The Poet Game

Down by the river junior year
walking with my girl,
and we came upon a place
there in the tall grass where a couple
had been making love
and left the mark of their embrace.
I said to her, “Looks like they had some fun.”
She said to me, “Let’s do the same.”
and still I taste her kisses
and her freckles in the sun
when I play the poet game. Read the rest of the lyrics.

3 Comments

  • Kathy B

    A coworker introduced me to Greg Brown about eight years ago. I have to say his body of work is overwhelming to someone just finding out about him. He almost makes Ryan Adams look like a slacker. 🙂

    I don’t know if you’re familiar with a tribute album put out a few years ago called “Going Driftless: An Artist’s Tribute to Greg Brown.” It’s on Red House Records (Brown’s label) and features a roster of female singer-songwriters, including Lucinda Williams, Shawn Colvin, Victoria Williams, Gillian Welch and Mary Chapin Carpenter, and “The Poet Game” is beautifully done by Ani DiFranco.

  • craig

    the tribute is ok but him singing his own songs is infinitely better, i think poet game is his best song and one of the best songs ever written

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *