#etown

Song Review: John Craigie - “Call Me a Bullet” (eTown)

Alone on the eTown stage with his acoustic guitar and harmonica, John Craigie sings of the upside-down logic of Louisiana, where a gun owner has more rights than a pregnant woman.

The song is “Call Me a Bullet” and the video stands in stark contrast to the previously released eTown version of “Edna Strange,” a fictionalized murder story rendered with a full band. Quite different than the I Swam Here recording of “Bullet” this arrangement is closer to what fans can expect when attending a Craigie gig as he sings:

I could have died, father/they wouldn’t have cared, father/this ain’t about life, and it never was/old white men, father/with their black pens, father/took my choices, ground them into dust

It’s a well-disguised protest song. But “Call Me a Bullet,” particularly in this folk-music, singer-songwriter setting, is a protest song that suits its time perfectly.

It’s also catchy as hell - a rare feat.

Grade card: John Craigie - “Call Me a Bullet” (eTown) - A