Songs I Relate To #3
‘The Great Salt Lake’ by Band of Horses
The third song I relate to is ‘The Great Salt Lake’ by Band of Horses. It is the sixth track off of their debut album, Everything All The Time. This is the third most popular song they play live.
This song relates to my first breakdown. I was young, dumb, immature, and couldn’t find my place in this world. I went drinking with my older brother, who was about to do his first tour of duty in the Middle East. I was concerned about him going to a war zone for the first time, and we went to a bar in the college town I was attending.
There was a country band there doing a benefit for the troops, and I was doing a stupid dance because, like the lyric, There was country music/ but he don’t like it at all… I didn’t like it at all.
The next day, I fell apart. I got arrested and had a severe breakdown that would get me jailed twice and forever change my life.
Ben Bridwell, the lead singer of Band of Horses, dropped out of high school in the ninth grade and moved from South Carolina to Arizona to live with his mom. He worked odd jobs and eventually moved with some friends to Washington state to see if he could make it in the music business. He was homeless when he first got to Seattle but eventually got a job working at the Crocodile Cafe, which was co-owned by a member of R.E.M. He said he loved watching the bands play there when he had free time, not washing dishes or cooking.
Similar to his story, when I went to LSU in the fall of 2004, the one thing I loved about going to School was being a stone’s throw from clubs that played live music. Nothing else was going well for me with school or my social life. I dropped out of school in November and got a job at a military base in January the next year. I struggled with substance abuse and with work for the next eight months, then went back to school in the fall of 2005.
This brings me back to the night at the bar with my brother. The bar was made of all wood, which gave it a feel like a boat, similar to the lyrics at the beginning of the song. My brothers and I were drinking whiskey that night. The whiskey bottle was spilling that night.
Like the lyrics, There was a whiskey bottle spilling/in a lake that’s made of salt, and the following morning after a biology test, I began to lose touch with reality.
My brother was leaving soon, and we were on different paths. As he was making it as a soldier, I was still trying to find myself. Like the lyric, And look out Michael…Ben Bridwell has an older brother named Michael. Their bond as brothers had to be challenged as they went on different paths. Micheal went on to college while Ben tried the less traditional path of trying to make it in the music business.
Now if you find yourself falling apart/ Then I’m sure I could stand on the Great Salt Lake
Which Ben Bridwell says the lake in the song is really about a lake in South Carolina where Ben and his brother grew up. I imagine he was breaking down when he dropped out of high school to struggle for some time before getting a big break from his first hit album with Band of Horses.
I appreciate Ben Bridwell sharing his story so myself and others can relate with him through our struggles.
I want to thank my wife and the editors at The Riff for polishing and refining my stories.
