Welch and Rawlings have collaborated on seven critically acclaimed albums, five released under her name, and two released under the name Dave Rawlings Machine. Her 1996 debut, Revival, and the 2001 release Time (The Revelator), received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her 2003 album, Soul Journey, introduced electric guitar, drums, and a more upbeat sound to their body of work. After a gap of eight years, she released a fifth studio album, The Harrow & The Harvest, in 2011, which was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the soundtrack of the Coen brothers 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. She also appeared in the film attempting to buy a Soggy Bottom Boys record. Welch, while not one of the principal actors, did sing and provide additional lyrics to the Sirens song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." In 2018 she and Rawlings wrote the song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" for the Coens' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for which they received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Welch has collaborated and recorded with Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Emmylou Harris, the Decemberists, Sam Phillips, Conor Oberst, Ani DiFranco, and Robyn Hitchcock.
Gillian Howard Welch was born on October 2, 1967 in New York City, and was adopted by Mitzie Welch (née Marilyn Cottle) and Ken Welch, comedy and music entertainers. Her biological mother was a freshman in college, and her father was a musician visiting New York City. Welch has speculated that her biological father could have been one of her favorite musicians, and she later discovered from her adoptive parents that he was a drummer. Alec Wilkinson of The New Yorker stated that "from an address they had been given, it appeared that her mother ... may have grown up in the mountains of North Carolina". When Welch was three, her adoptive parents moved to Los Angeles to write music for The Carol Burnett Show. They also appeared on The Tonight Show.
As a child, Welch was introduced to the music of American folk singers Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Carter Family. She performed folk songs with her peers at the Westland Elementary School in Los Angeles. Welch later attended Crossroads School, a high school in Santa Monica, California. While in high school, a local television program featured her as a student who "excelled at everything she did."
Welch and Rawlings incorporate elements of early twentieth century music such as old time, classic country, gospel and traditional bluegrass with modern elements of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz, and punk rock. The New Yorker's Alec Wilkinson maintained their musical style is "not easily classified—it is at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms".
The instrumentation on their songs is usually a simple arrangement, with Welch and Rawlings accompanying their own vocals with acoustic guitars, banjos, or a mandolin. Welch plays rhythm guitar with a 1956 Gibson J-50 (or banjo), while Rawlings plays lead on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic Guitar.The New Yorker's Wilkinson described Rawlings as a "strikingly inventive guitarist" who plays solos that are "daring melodic leaps". A review in No Depression by Andy Moore observed that Rawlings "squeezes, strokes, chokes and does just about everything but blow into" his guitar.
Many songs performed by Welch and Rawlings contain dark themes about social outcasts struggling against such elements as poverty, drug addiction, death, a disconnection from their family, and an unresponsive God. Despite Welch being the lead singer, several of these characters are male. Welch has commented, "To be commercial, everybody wants happy love songs. People would flat-out ask me, 'Don't you have any happy love songs?' Well, as a matter of fact, I don't. I've got songs about orphans and morphine addicts." To reflect these themes, Welch and Rawlings often employ a slow pace to their songs. Their tempo is compared to a "slow heartbeat", and Cowperthwait of Rolling Stone observed that their songs "can lull you into near-hypnosis and then make your jaw drop with one final revelation".
The Way it Will Be
Gillian Welch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But still I don't know why
I can't say your name
Without a crow flying by
Gotta watch my back now
That you turned me around
Got me walking backwards
Into my hometown
Throw me a rope
On the rolling tide
What did you want me to be?
You said it's him or me
The way you made it
That's the way it will be
It was seven years on the burning shore
With gatling guns and paint
Working the lowlands door-to-door
Like a Latter Day Saint
Then you turn me out
At the top of the stairs
You took all the glory
That you just couldn't share
I've never been so disabused
Never been so mad
I've never been served anything
That tasted so bad
You might need a friend
Any day now, any day
Oh my brother, be careful
You are drifting away
Throw me a rope
On the rolling tide
What did you want me to be?
You said it's him or me
The way you made it
That's the way it will be
The way you made it
That's the way it will be
In "The Way it Will Be," Gillian Welch sings about the aftermath of a failed relationship, as she grapples with her emotions and the unexpected changes that come with losing someone she cared about. The lyrics convey a deep sense of loss and confusion, as the singer struggles to come to terms with what has happened to her. She says that she lost the person a while ago but still cannot say their name without feeling like a crow is flying by. The imagery of the crow evokes a sense of foreboding and unease, as though the singer is being watched or followed by something ominous.
Throughout the song, Welch references the themes of betrayal and abandonment, as she recounts being turned out at the top of the stairs and watching as her former partner took all the glory that they could not share. The bitterness and anger in her voice are palpable as she sings about never having been served anything that tasted so bad before. Nevertheless, there is a hint of sadness and nostalgia that underlies her anger, as she reminds her brother to be careful, for he is drifting away. The lyrics are open to interpretation, but the overall sense is that of a person who is struggling to come to terms with the end of a relationship, and the difficult changes that come with that loss.
Line by Line Meaning
I lost you awhile ago
I lost you and I still can't comprehend it
But still I don't know why
I don't know why I lost you
I can't say your name
Your name is a reminder of what I lost
Without a crow flying by
It's a bad omen to say your name
Gotta watch my back now
I need to be careful now
That you turned me around
You messed with my head and my heart
Got me walking backwards
I'm going back to where I started
Into my hometown
Returning to where I grew up
Throw me a rope
Help me get out of this situation
On the rolling tide
In the midst of chaos
What did you want me to be?
You had high expectations for me
You said it's him or me
You forced me to make a choice
The way you made it
It's your fault
That's the way it will be
I have no choice but to accept it
It was seven years on the burning shore
I went through hell for seven years
With gatling guns and paint
I had to fight and work hard for everything
Working the lowlands door-to-door
Struggling to make ends meet
Like a Latter Day Saint
Like a religious devotee
Then you turn me out
You abandoned me
At the top of the stairs
In a moment of vulnerability
You took all the glory
You took all the credit
That you just couldn't share
You couldn't bear to share the limelight
I've never been so disabused
I've never felt so disillusioned
Never been so mad
I've never been so angry
I've never been served anything
I've never been given anything
That tasted so bad
That felt so wrong
You might need a friend
You may someday regret leaving me
Any day now, any day
It could be any day
Oh my brother, be careful
Be careful with your choices
You are drifting away
You are moving away from me
The way you made it
It's your fault
That's the way it will be
I have no choice but to accept it
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Written by: David Rawlings, Gillian Welch
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Otis Oblomov
Regardless of what genre you come from, whether you listen to classic, punk, or techno: This is impeccable musicianship.
kore reviews
This has to be one of the most beautiful songs ever written. And how many vocalists nowadays can pull off a live performance that perfect?
petsubet
The lyrics are magic, like so many of theirs are. It is beautiful...🎩
Shawna VanHorn
Amen! And VERY nearly NONE!
Caalamus
...she's got a number in that category & our dear Mr. Rawlings has taken up writing his own as well!
Another great one is "I Dream a Highway". Or how about "Annabelle", "Caleb Meyer"? :]
Debra Beck
@CaalamusThey are all amazing, but Caleb Meyer is an exceptionally astounding song. They slay that song so strong and hard it takes your breath away.
Gui Porto
This is so impeccable that it's almost overwhelming.
Sean Kent
Dave Rawlings is my favorite living guitarist. Totally uniquely expressive and technically brilliant as well.
Jean-Michel Pascal
Yes, I agree. But I love Derek Trucks as much. And Warren Haynes, and Jimmy Herring and...
James Allen
Agreed . . no pedals here