Song of the Week: “So it Goes” by Sam Ford

So here’s the new weekly article that will be coming from me, Geoff Larson, the Program Director of The Bushwick Book Club Seattle. I have been part of and/or planned every single Seattle Bushwick show. It has been quite a journey over these past few years.

Now I want to present my “Song of the Week” where I will write about a song from one of our Bushwick artists and talk about what I think about the tune. Hopefully I can keep these pretty short, but you never know.

So here is this week’s song of the week:

“So it Goes” by Sam Ford | inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five

The first thing I’d like to say about this tune is, I love the name! “So it goes” is a phrase I frequently use in my life. For me, it means the same thing as “such is life” or “shit happens.” Mostly it means that it’s time to move on to the next thing, no matter what just happened. Vonnegut used it in a somewhat similar way, but who knows what that guy is thinking.

So it Goes… Now to the music.

The first thing I love about this tune is the haunting quality of Ford’s voice. It fits amazingly with the phrase, “So it Goes” as well. Just those words along with the quality of his voice really gives the song a feeling of hope and dread at the same time. The simple melody is also very helpful in making the quality of his voice stand out.

I am also a big fan of the open-ended chords that Ford chooses. It seems like the tune doesn’t ever really find its center and we are left floating through time. This fits in perfectly with Kurt Vonnegut’s idea of time as a continuous line that we, as humans, only see tiny pieces of.

The simple harmonica style is also something I am drawn too as a listener. When that first note is introduced from the harmonica, my focus heads in that direction. This makes the groove of the song stand out (as simple as that groove might be.)

For the words, Sam captures the feeling of the book quite masterfully. He sets up some of the striking scenes from the book with simple phrases like “my senses bloom in Dresden.” The repeated use of the word “home” throughout the chorus shows the open ended feelings of what Billy Pilgrim might have felt during his jumps through time. Most of all, I can only imagine that thoughts of home were first on soldiers’ minds during the war.

This is a timeless song for me, and I hope you get the chance to check it out and enjoy it!