On her fourth … Read Full Bio ↴Edie Carey is an American folk-pop singer-songwriter.
On her fourth studio album, Another Kind of Fire, Carey explored the myriad kinds of "fire" - romantic and otherwise - that keep us burning below the surface: old resentments, creativity, anger, lost friendships, lust, and, of course, love. The disc, released September 19th independently on Accidental Poet, maintained much of the organic, woody sound of its predecessor, When I Was Made (2004), touted by Harp Magazine as "a little country, a little adult-contemporary, and a lot of fine music." But on her latest effort, producer Crit Harmon (Martin Sexton, Lori McKenna, Mary Gauthier) introduces a somewhat moodier, darker sound, painting haunting, vast landscapes behind her intimate vocals.
Drawn from her own experiences and the stories of those around her, Carey's poetic lyrics are the focal point of her songs. Paste Magazine confirmed this in a 2004 review of Made:"Economic instrumentation forces all your attention toward the gentle storytelling, rich with humanity and insight...Carey draws us into her world, where we find we have a lot in common."
Several fires have raged within Carey over the past two years - both personally and professionally - creating fertile ground for songwriting. After three years south in her adopted hometown of Atlanta, Carey has returned to her native Boston - though she plans to spend little time at home.
The 2004 Telluride Bluegrass Troubadour Finalist will hit the road in earnest this fall, performing at clubs, coffeehouses and colleges across the country. Carey kicks off her CD release tour for Another Kind Of Fire on September 8th at The Living Room in New York City.
Touring internationally since 1999, Edie has shared stages with Norah Jones, Leo Kottke, Ani DiFranco, Jonatha Brooke, Catie Curtis, Lucy Kaplansky, and Sandra Bernhard. She was asked to perform at The Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and on Ed McMahon's "Next Big Star" ("Star Search"), and has had her songs featured on The WB's "Charmed" and MTV's "Road Rules". She was recently a featured act on Public Radio International's "Mountain Stage," and When I Was Made was a finalist for Album of the Year in the 2003 Independent Music Awards.
More About Edie...
"Accidental Poet," one of Edie Carey's earliest songs, describes a particularly eloquent friend, but could just as easily refer to Carey herself and the circuitous and serendipitous route that led her to become one of the country's most notable young songwriters. Somehow, all of the seemingly unrelated turns - from her intention to become a doctor, to a tiny music room in the basement of a Morningside Heights' chapel, to a year in Italy - managed to steer her towards music.
Born in Burlington, Vermont and raised in the Boston suburbs by her English teacher father, therapist mother, and poet stepmother, Edie Carey couldn't help but learn to love words. But her ear for music only became apparent after she "took the stage" in the back seat of her babysitter's green Cadillac, belting out her own rendition of "Up Where We Belong." From age nine, after beginning voice lessons, she became involved in singing groups and musicals, which she continued all the way through high school. A child of the 80's, she dressed in lace and sequins and dreamed of appearing on Ed McMahon's "Star Search." However, as much as she loved performing, Carey was unaware that there was any middle ground between singing at weddings and being Madonna, and never considered music a real career possibility. So, she made plans to major in English/Creative Writing with Pre-Med classes at Barnard College in New York City. However, during her freshman year, two pivotal discoveries knocked those plans right off course - The Postcrypt Coffeehouse and the Italian language.
In the Postcrypt, an intimate music venue in the basement of St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University, the seeds of possibility were sewn as Carey watched Jeff Buckley, Ani Difranco, and Lisa Loeb among others perform unplugged to candlelit audiences. She saw how words could sometimes have even greater power when used in a song, and simultaneously came to appreciate the sonorous quality of words regardless of their meaning or the melody in which they were framed. This appreciation for their musicality grew deeper with the study of Italian, which eventually led her to spend a year abroad in Bologna, where she taught herself to play the guitar.
In Italy, Carey set herself up in a corner of the main piazza and played every Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, Sarah McLachlan, and Rickie Lee Jones song she knew, throwing in a few of her own tunes, which would later land on her debut album, The Falling Places . Her experience abroad gave her a newfound confidence and encouraged her to begin performing on campus, where she started to build a student following. She made her first album in 1997, while working long days at Worth Magazine and recording until 3 am each night. Though the process was a daunting one, by the time she was finished, Carey was sure she had "accidentally" ended up exactly where she was supposed to be.
After the release of The Falling Places in 1998, she began venturing outside of New York City to play neighboring east coast cities, and gradually expanded throughout the United States, then Canada and the UK. While the debut was a very sparsely produced acoustic contemporary folk album, Call Me Home, Carey's follow-up in 2000, was by comparison an all-out pop record, a tribute to her early inspirations and the reckless abandon of her childhood. With its release, the "accidents" continued, and Carey unexpectedly found herself achieving her childhood dream of appearing on television with Ed McMahon.
Since 2000, she has been working as a full-time performing songwriter, touring rigorously to promote all of her independently self-released records, which now include Come Close, her 2002 live CD, When I Was Made (2004), and the latest addition to her growing catalog, Another Kind of Fire. Looking back, she has to wonder if maybe this wasn't an accident after all.
Official Website
Come Close
Edie Carey Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just not when it
Comes to things like this
You think I'm gonna let you
Rock my world
With just one kiss
One really good kiss
Til' I say let's go, but you say wait
But I don't wanna put my heart through the windshield
Just to watch it break
We try to stop
As if we can,
We know we gotta,
Know we gotta,
Cool this warming trend
I guess our little hands
Had other plans
We make the rules and then they just bend them
I'm all right
I made it out alive all alone
Then you run me off the road
And I don't even
Come close to minding
I don't even come close to minding
I'm up to my eyes or out the door
I never do anything half way
So we're gonna do this
Thing your way
I'll do my best to not want more
And I don't mean to flatter myself
But everything I touch turns to shit
If there's one thing that I do well
That would probably be it
I'm all right
I made it out alive all alone
Then you run me off the road
And I don't even
Come close to minding
I don't even come close to minding
I don't even come close to minding
In Edie Carey's song "Come Close", Carey talks about being a very good girl but not when it comes to certain things. She talks about a guy who she knows will rock her world with just one kiss. However, she is hesitant because she doesn't want to put her heart through the windshield just to watch it break. Even though they try to stop their feelings, their little hands have other plans and they end up bending the rules that they made for themselves. In the end, Carey is willing to try things their way, but she is still fearful of what will happen because everything she touches seems to turn to shit. However, she doesn't mind when the guy runs her off the road because she knows that she didn't even come close to minding.
This song talks about the fear of being hurt and the hesitation that comes with getting into a new relationship. Carey describes how sometimes, even though we try to prevent ourselves from getting hurt, our emotions have a way of taking over, leading us down a road that we didn't plan for. Throughout this song, we see an internal struggle between wanting someone and holding back because of the fear of getting hurt. In the end, Carey decides to take the risk despite the fear.
Line by Line Meaning
I can be a very good girl
I am capable of behaving well in most circumstances
Just not when it comes to things like this
However, I can't control myself when it comes to matters of passion
You think I'm gonna let you rock my world with just one kiss
I know that a single kiss from you has the power to shake my world
We could stand here til' I say let's go, but you say wait
We could argue endlessly about what to do next, but I'm hesitant to take risks
But I don't wanna put my heart through the windshield just to watch it break
I'm afraid of getting hurt again, and I don't want to take unnecessary risks
We try to stop, as if we can
We attempt to halt the irresistible force that is our attraction to each other
We know we gotta, know we gotta, cool this warming trend
But we're fully aware that we need to dampen the heat between us
I guess our little hands had other plans
However, our desires and intentions have a way of overriding our reason
We make the rules and then they just bend them
We establish boundaries, but then we can't help but blur and violate them
I'm all right, I made it out alive all alone
I have been doing fine by myself before you came along
Then you run me off the road
But now you've disrupted my life and made me reconsider everything
And I don't even come close to minding
Strangely enough, I don't even mind what you've done to me and how you've changed me
I'm up to my eyes or out the door
I am fully committed or I'm gone
I never do anything half way
I am a person of extremes and always give my all
So we're gonna do this thing your way
Therefore, I will compromise and follow your lead, even if it may not be what I prefer
I'll do my best to not want more
I'll try not to demand too much from you or expect too much in return
And I don't mean to flatter myself
I don't want to sound boastful or arrogant
But everything I touch turns to shit
But my track record in life has not been great, and I tend to ruin things I touch
If there's one thing that I do well, that would probably be it
If there's one talent I possess, it's messing up important things in my life
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Chad Hugo, Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Pharrell L. Williams
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Bill Karnes
I have to say for the first thing. I am a fan of this song because it's featured on one of my favorite episodes of "Charmed". Then I noticed her name. She shares the exact same name of one of my favorite teachers ever!! All I remember is she lived in Dowagiac Michigan, and Edie Carey was my favorite, and I hated school.
Bill Karnes
Edie Carey, has a song in one of my all time favorite shows, in one of my favorite episodes (baby swapping powers....hilarious!!). Then to notice her name is the same as my favorite teacher? More than just a coincidence in my opinion!