The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You (Official Video)

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Posted on 11/16/2024 4:48:36 PM PST by MtnClimber

Many songs romanticize the road, playing up the lure of both the journey and the destination. “I And Love And You” by The Avett Brothers takes a different tack, examining what pushes one to leave in the first place while ruminating on the chances missed with those left behind.

The song proved crucial for The Avett Brothers, as it kicked off their time as major label artists in 2009 by serving as the title track, opening song and lead single of the album they made with producer Rick Rubin. As Scott Avett told American Songwriter, the move to the new recording digs was a bit unnerving until Rubin put them at ease.

“We were nervous going in,” he remembers. “I think there was a little reservation about, ‘Would we be changed?’ There’s sort of this mythological abyss that people sometimes go into on major labels. But at the end of the day, it’s always up to the artist. Working with Rick, he was the first one to tell us that it was our call.”

The context of the creation of “I And Love And You” was that Avett had recently immersed himself in the music of Townes Van Zandt. “There was something very hopeless and sad-sounding about it, but I always felt there was a redemptive quality to it,” he says of Van Zandt’s work. “I felt like there was a dark hope thing to it. As sad as Townes would sound, it always felt there was still something very precious and bright about him.

“’I And Love And You’ was something where I was sitting at the piano, living with those melodies from Townes. And I was just writing endless verses. There was a melody but there was no chorus. There was no point in any type of structure. I never thought once of that song having a commercial value of any sort. Those lyrics came from thinking about a relationship with a family member, but not a wife or husband. It came from a father or mother and son relationship and the difficulty of being able to tell them, ‘I love you.’”

1 posted on 11/16/2024 4:48:36 PM PST by MtnClimber

To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 11/16/2024 4:48:48 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)

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