Henry was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, but grew up in the Detroit area where he met Melanie Ciccone, Madonna's sister, whom he married in 1987. In 1985 he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he played at small clubs. His debut album Talk of Heaven came out in 1986. He signed to A&M Records and released two albums, Murder of Crows (1989) and Shuffletown (1990)
After Henry and his wife moved to Los Angeles in 1990, he left A&M in 1992 to join the independent label Mammoth, located in North Carolina. He released Short Man's Room and Kindness of the World, on which members of the Jayhawks provided instrumental backing.
In the mid-1990s Henry decided "to do something decidedly more eclectic" instead of continuing with country-rock. He turned to producer Patrick McCarthy, in making his next album Trampoline (1996). Trampoline also employed metal guitarist Page Hamilton, who demonstrated his own eagerness to stretch by collaborating on the album.
Asked to contribute a song to a benefit album for singer Vic Chesnutt in 1996, Henry also collaborated with his famous sister-in-law on a cover of Chesnutt's "Guilty by Association" (Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, The Songs of Vic Chesnutt, 1996).
In 1999 Henry released the experimental album Fuse with trip hop shadings. His eighth album, Scar, followed in 2001. The band on the record consisted mainly of jazz musicians (Marc Ribot, Brian Blade and Brad Mehldau among others) and Jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman guesting on the track "Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation".
In 2001, Henry sang on the song "Alleluia" from Julia Fordham's album, Concrete Love. His self-produced album Tiny Voices appeared on Epitaph's Anti label in 2003.
Henry produced Teddy Thompson's 2000 album Teddy Thompson, a critically acclaimed album from the son of British folk legends, Linda Thompson and Richard Thompson. Henry also produced Solomon Burke's 2002 album Don't Give Up On Me, which won Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards. 2005 releases produced by Henry include Ani DiFranco's Knuckle Down, Aimee Mann's 1970s concept album The Forgotten Arm, and Bettye LaVette's I've Got My Own Hell to Raise.
He also produced the multi-artist album I Believe to My Soul, which featured Allen Toussaint, Mavis Staples, Ann Peebles, Irma Thomas and Billy Preston.
In 2006, Henry teamed with Toussaint, producing his collaborative album with Elvis Costello, The River in Reverse.
In September of 2006, Henry and his longtime hero Loudon Wainwright III began composing the music for the Judd Apatow movie Knocked Up. Snippets of instrumentals were used as background score for the film, but the full versions of the songs make up Wainwright's 2007 album Strange Weirdos. Henry produced Mary Gauthier's 2007 album Between Daylight and Dark.
Henry's 10th album, "Civilians," was released in 2007 on the Anti label. His 11th album, Blood From Stars, followed in 2009, and his 12th, Reverie, was released in 2011.
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Stop
Joe Henry Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tell the rain not to drop,
Tell the wind not to blow
Cause you said so;
Tell me love isn't true
It's just something we do,
Tell me everything I'm not
But don't tell me to stop
Tell the sun not to shine
Not to get up this time,
Let it fall by the way,
Leave me where I lay;
Tell the leaves not to turn
But don't tell me I'll learn,
Take the black off a crow
But don't tell me to go
Tell the bed not to lay
Like the mouth of a grave,
Not to stare up at me
Like a calf on its knees;
Tell me love isn't true
It's just something we do,
Tell me everything I'm not
But don't tell me to stop
"Stop" by Joe Henry appears to be a song about heartbreak and the difficulty of letting go of someone you love. The lyrics are full of paradoxical requests to nature and life itself, asking them to stop or change, but knowing that it's impossible. The opening verse reveals this with the line "Don't tell me to stop, tell the rain not to drop, tell the wind not to blow cause you said so." This is the feeling of being unable to control your emotions, despite all rational thought. The singer is pleading with the universe to make their pain stop.
The chorus repeats the central theme of the song, with the line "Tell me love isn't true, it's just something we do, tell me everything I'm not, but don't tell me to stop." This line is particularly poignant because it reflects the singer's awareness that their relationship may have been temporary, but they don't want to let go nonetheless. The request not to be told to stop seems to be a plea for more time, to hold onto the memories, even if they are flawed.
The verses that follow each present another impossible request: to stop the sun from shining, to tell the leaves not to turn, to tell the bed not to lay. Each line captures the feeling of being powerless against the inevitability of change. Even if the singer could make these things happen, it wouldn't change the fact that they are hurting and struggling to move on. The song ends with the same refrain as the chorus, echoing the sentiment that despite everything, the singer can't let go.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't tell me to stop
I cannot be forced to stop what I am doing by anyone.
Tell the rain not to drop,
You are asking me to do the impossible, like asking the rain not to fall from the sky.
Tell the wind not to blow
Similarly, asking me to stop is comparable to asking the wind to stop blowing.
Cause you said so;
You cannot control everything that happens around you just by saying so.
Tell me love isn't true
You can try to convince me that love is fake, but love is something that is real and can't be denied.
It's just something we do,
Love is a common occurrence that happens between people.
Tell me everything I'm not
You can try to put me down and tell me what I am not, but you cannot dictate my actions.
But don't tell me to stop
Despite everything else, I will still continue what I am doing, and no one can stop me.
Tell the sun not to shine
Asking me to stop is equivalent to asking the sun not to rise.
Not to get up this time,
Asking me to stop is like asking the sun not to get up and start a new day.
Let it fall by the way,
Let what will happen take its natural course, rather than trying to force something to stop.
Leave me where I lay;
I am content to be where I am at, and I will not let anyone tell me to move.
Tell the leaves not to turn
Attempting to stop me is as worthwhile as trying to make leaves not change color in the fall.
But don't tell me I'll learn,
I will not change my actions, even if you think it will help me learn something new.
Take the black off a crow
Removing the black color from a crow is a pointless and impossible endeavor.
But don't tell me to go
No matter what you say, I will not change my current path and leave what I'm doing.
Tell the bed not to lay
My actions are as stubborn as a bed that refuses to lay flat.
Like the mouth of a grave,
As asking a grave to not accept a body, you cannot get me to stop doing what I am doing.
Not to stare up at me
Just like a grave cannot prevent someone from looking down, no one can tell me what to do or how to act.
Like a calf on its knees;
I will not bow down and change my ways, just like a calf will not be forced to bow.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: PAUL VAN HAVER, JEAN MICHEL SISSOKO, MELISSA MERCHICHE, HICHEM BONNEFOI, SYLVAIN COUTURIER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind