Tomorrow - The Mountain Goats (originally from the musical Annie)
The sun’ll come out tomorrow.
People talk a lot about how JD’s voice isn’t beautiful and most of the time I don’t care. I mean, I don’t care—there are so many worthwhile things about music that are not “beautiful” and anyway I disagree, but. People talk about how JD’s voice isn’t beautiful and I want to play them this song over and over, very soft very gentle, the sun’ll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun. This song is from Annie. The musical, you know? They made a super cute remake with Quvenzhané Wallis. This song was a bonus track on the Japanese version of Transcendental Youth but I love it so much and Aly has never heard it so we are going to talk about it. It is quiet and sweet and tentative and such a stark counterpoint to the rest of this album, how harsh Transcendental Youth is even when it’s reaching towards the light. Doesn’t it make you want to cry? His voice almost disappears into the music and there is a slight tremble in it and I feel like I can’t breathe. I promise the original wrecks me too but there is something about a grown man singing this song—less certain and a little bit stranger but, you know. You are only supposed to be this vulnerable when you are kid in a musical. You are only supposed to be this optimistic when you are a kid in a musical but still we have this, we have the sun’ll come out tomorrow so you got to hang on til tomorrow.
There is a reason everyone loves this song to begin with, the idea of brighter things as an inevitability. Just thinkin’ about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow til there’s none. Tomorrow is a brighter day and a new day and you will wake up and everything will be different. It is an undeniable truth of the universe that everything looks worse at the end of the day when you are alone. The morning is always brighter even if the sky isn’t clear yet. And even if tomorrow does turn out to be terrible too there is another day after that, and after that, life as a series of glowing horizons stretching out into the distance. Only a day away. You are always headed for a brighter future, away from darker yesterdays.
Let yourself be hopeful. Let yourself think about this song, clear and soft and from a musical about an orphan. When I’m stuck with a day that’s grey and lonely I just stick out my chin and grin. Think about the choice to cover this song and put it on this album, an album so much about the snarling terrible things we do to keep ourselves alive, about walking through the world carrying an awful shame in your heart, feeling like you deserve the bad things that happen to you. An album about blood, you know? There is no blood in this song. It is very quiet. It is very bright. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow. I love you, I promise it’s going to be alright.
jbbartram-illu
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon
stormborns
tangentwithtanner
