Rather than hijack another thread, I would like to re-ask katherine's question here. . .

If you don't like Poughkeepsie, why not?

if you do like it, you can say why too. . . .

I'm just curious as to why so many fans seemingly HATE this song.

I have loved this song since the first time I heard it, and continue to consider it one of my favorites.
It's sad and meaningful to me.
I truly don't know why folks don't like it.

My favorite part is

Now I've no more or less
than anyone else has,
what I have is a gift of life I can't repeat.

I actually lived in Poughkeepsie for six months during the loneliest and most depressed period of my life. Despite its striking relevance to my youth, I still don't much like the song, even though I agree 100% with its message. There are three reasons I can point to: Lyrically, it's pretty obvious bordering on maudlin, and doesn't leave much to the imagination (I think Karin is a much better songwriter now). Musically, I think the chord progression is pretty boring and the structure of the song just feels like "standard folk". Third, I don't much like when Karin does that "yodely" thing with her voice (I'm not a big Rhapsodie fan either). The rest of her singing on GDBD sounds a lot more natural and unaffected to me.

It's the first OtR song I heard.
I used to borrow my roommates copy of GDBD, light some candles and take a long bath. It always helped me thru sad times.

It's the first song I learned on guitar.

It just has a lot of meaning to me.

While I agree that the lyrics are pretty straight forward, and that the chord progression is simple -- I think it's those things that really draw me to the song. Sometimes simple is better. Sometimes simple means purity.

Not to mention, some of the best songs in the world are derived from those same three chords (G-C-D.)

I like the song.

Like it. Don't need to hear it every concert, though. But they play it anyway...

I don't like it, but that might just be because it's on Good Dog Bad Dog.

I'm pro-death and opposed to it for political reasons.

Dang, I'm a little late for April Fool's day. Oh well. I love the song, actually. I think I actually like it more because of the context of the album around it....without "Willoughby" afterwards, it's just not the same....

Despite wanting to completely slit my wrists when I listen to it, I've always liked this song.

I know what its about, but for some reason, about 6 minutes after the 9/11 attacks, this song popped into my head. It wasn't the total message of the song, I think. It was my subconscious mental segues thinking of NY and "I ride on the backs of the angels tonight." Since that time, I've had trouble thinking of anything but 9/11 when I hear it, and the meaning of the song has changed for me. I just hear only part of the lyrics these days.

Still love it.

I think I'm pretty indifferent to this song.

I agree... the song is pretty indifferent.



~fff - np: megadeth - cryptic writings

You have something against simple songs in the key of G or something?

i lived in nyc during 9/11, and was living in intentional xian community (HA!) at the time. i ws in charge of our our community night following the 9/11, and played this song for the people i was living with. it was appropriate, contemplative.

i had just gotten gdbd a few weeks before that, and was just settling into being an otr fan.

I don't like Poughkeepsie because it bores me. The lyrics do nothing for me and I think Karin's guitar sounds like crap. I understand why people like it--I can see how the lyrics could be meaningful to some, but they just don't resonate with me the way many of their other songs do.

Put me down in the 'like it' group. On the train in November Jeff Bird added mandolin in the background that really accents the song. I love the way he does that, such an ear for the right thing to add. Never too much, just a bit here and bit there.

I have always liked the song, although it was never a favorite of mine. I will say this, though...2 of the people that I convinced to buy GDBG both told me out of the blue, "The album is great, but that Poughkeepsie song is just amazing.

Different strokes for different folks......

I consider Poughkeepsie to be one of the best songs ever written.

Shang.

i'm in the "hate it" camp. lol

_good dog bad dog_ was the cd they were promoting when i first saw them in concert. i bought it, _besides_, and _tDNotY_ all at one time, at my first concert. and i listened to all three religiously.

then i discovered _till we have faces_. and _patience_ and _eve_, and _gdbd_ got left in the dust.

i think i don't care for *poughkeespise* mostly because, unlike many of the songs on _gdbd_, it hasn't evolved. i love the newer versions of *faithfully dangerous* and *etc whatever* -- but *poughkeepsie* has just stood still throughout time.

i agree with dan, though. i can take the song...i just don't like the fact that they would play it at every concert. at least *latter days* has a special meaning for me.

the only song i walk out of the room on is *little blue river*...but don't even get me started on that one.

I have a slightly different take on this one. At first I was indifferent to it. But when I set out to tab it (three or four chords, that's it), I kept playing it over and over.... and I fell in love with the song. FWIW.

I recall Linford saying in one of his interviews with Jeff Holland something along the lines of "Karin's got it all: she's a babe, she cracks me up, she cooks a good [something he likes], she can write a classic-sounding song..." And at the Mennofolk show in October (I think that's where I heard it, maybe Josh can back me up here), introducing "I Want U2B My Love", they said that they've got sort of a running competition for who can write the simplest song, and "Karin really raised the bar with this one."

The simple, classic-sounding song seems to be a fairly consistent ideal that they hold for their songwriting. I think it fits with their general aesthetic/ethos: make a homestead on an old farm in the middle of Nowhere, print a book with moveable type and woodcuts, celebrate the community they've fostered among their fans in an intimate gathering with candles and an upright piano, write songs that sound like they could be from an earlier time. And I think "Poughkeepsie" is the prototype of that inclination in their writing. The song it most reminds me of is "Orphan Girl", which is probably the simplest of all of Gillian Welch's neo-traditional songs, and the only one K&L cover.

Obviously, I'm not saying that this yen for the simple and traditional encompasses their aesthetic, but it's an important aspect of it, and one that I resonate with personally. I love the song, largely for it's simple, timeless quality. However, I can appreciate the complaints of those who wish it leant itself to something other than a straight-up-folk treatment. Jessyka, I wish you could have heard it at Mennofolk with Linford on the pipe organ. Actually, that was less an evolution than a mutation.

There is one way that this song has evolved, though, and that is my only real gripe about it. Has anyone else noticed that on GDBD the first line of the chorus is "I ride on the backs of the angels tonight", but ever since a couple of years after that, Karin's been singing "angels in flight"? This is exasperating to me; she's trading in a repetition of the last line with the first (a fine traditional form) for a redundancy, and one that is more cumbersome to articulate, just to include another word that rhymes with "ight"? ACK I don't understand.

Yes, I believe Linford said this at the St Elizabeth special event as well. Karin was the winner in the simplest song.

personally, i'm not crazy about *i want you to be my love* either. i would definitely rather hear *born*.

but that's just me.

No, it's not.

And I can't really explain my pasionate dislike of Poughkeepsie, either. The very first time I heard it live (1994? 1995? Definitely before GDBD was released, and I know they played it at the Cincinnati Zoo show in 1995, and I'd heard it at least once at Canal Street before then.), I just disliked it immediately, and despite the fact that they played it over & over & over again, it never grew on me.

It has been my least favorite song from day 1. It just doesnt seem to have that deep emotional feeling that so many of their other songs have. To me, it almost has a sense of cheesiness about it.

i like the song. i did get a bit tired of it when they played it at what seemed like every show for a while, especially as the closer or the encore. but all in all i think it is a beautiful song.

and karin's dedication (with a huge smile) "dan, this one's for you BAYBEE!" @ little bros a couple of years ago is still one of the funnier OtR moments that i can remember.

Does anybody else think "Poughkeepsie" bears a fair number of similarities to "Snow Angel"?

I wanted to go on record by stating that I think Poughkeepsie is one of the best songs Karin has ever written. I just listened to it three times in a row today so I could be fresh and objective about it.

It still give me chills.

Lyrically it's spot on, honest and direct. It's hopeful and authentic. Honestly, I think for the genre, it's as close to perfect as a song can get.

And vocally, I think the GDBD recording is one of Karin's best as well. Her range of emotion on the song, both before and after the character's "turning point" is amazing. She manages to sing the exact same words and have them take on entirely different meaning just from her tone. That's awesome!


Admittedly, I don't listen to the song that much anymore either, or GDBD for that matter, but this is truly a great, great song.

Count me in the "like it but not love it" category. I think it works fine in album format, but wouldn't want this one played live if it meant bumping another song.

Hey! It's Good Dog, Bad Dog we're talking about here! It's ALL good...