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.
http://www.joehenrylovesyoumadly.com/
Trampoline
Joe Henry Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It fights me like a trampoline
It won't let me on the ground
So this time I'm not coming down
I've been talking in my sleep
You once kissed me not to hear me speak
You loved me just so you could leave
And this time I'm not coming down
This time I'm not coming down
Trampoline
Trampoline
The whole platoon is overfed
And we're in this thing over our head
My mind it's never been so clear
But I stutter like an auctioneer
As the night has come alive with dreams
That hoot and holler, spit and scream
Every one of them is sick with lust
But every one of them will outlive us
And this time I'm not coming down
This time I'm not coming down
Trampoline
Trampoline
And if I really thought I could
I'd give up your ghost for good
But I'm not sure it isn't you
That keeps my ghost from leaving too
But I don't miss you half as much
As who you made me think I was
When I could see myself the way you do
I could almost see myself in you
This time I'm not coming down
This time I'm not coming down
Trampoline
Trampoline
In Joe Henry’s song Trampoline, the lyrics describe the feeling of being stuck in a situation where it’s hard to find solid ground. The singer is struggling not to fall but feels defeated by the floor's airy quality. He compares the ground to a trampoline that won’t allow him to reach it. The second verse is about the singer’s struggles with love. He feels like he can’t speak his mind because it’s only going to lead to heartbreak, and the person he loves has already drained him of who he was. The chorus “Trampoline, Trampoline" emphasizes his feeling of being stuck and not being able to get down. It implies he’s going to keep suffering in this loop of pain and heartbreak with nowhere to release it.
In the third verse, he describes his current situation as being in over his head. The way the lyrics are written, it sounds like he’s in the military, and the feeling of being in a platoon has a connection to his situation. He feels like he’s clear-minded but is stuttering when he tries to communicate, implying he is still grappling with his emotions. The next set of lyrics are about dreams that are alive, and they are described as wild and intense. The singer sees them as sick with lust, and although they will outlive us, we remember them as real as what we experience in reality.
The last verse is about the singer’s realization that he may not be able to get over the person he loved, but he doesn’t miss the person as much as he misses who he became with that person. He formed his identity, and it’s difficult for him to face who he is without them. The chorus at the end is repeated with more emphasis, highlighting the singers' fatigue and his feeling of being lost.
Line by Line Meaning
The floor will have its way it seems
The ground always takes control and never lets me stay on it
It fights me like a trampoline
The ground behaves like a trampoline and throws me up every time I touch it, making it difficult to stay still
It won't let me on the ground
No matter how hard I try to stand still, the ground doesn't let me
So this time I'm not coming down
I won't bother trying to control my descent because the ground always wins
I've been talking in my sleep
I've been revealing my secrets, thoughts and emotions even when I'm unconscious
You once kissed me not to hear me speak
You held me close enough to kiss but too far to listen to what I had to say
You loved me just so you could leave
You only pretended to love me because your true intention was to desert me
Every bit of life wrung out of me
You left me with nothing but emptiness and hopelessness
Trampoline
Repetition of the word to emphasize how the ground is treating me
The whole platoon is overfed
Everyone is being overfed with false hopes and beliefs
And we're in this thing over our head
We're all in a deep trouble that we didn't see coming
My mind it's never been so clear
Ironically, I'm in a clearer mental state despite everything that's going on
But I stutter like an auctioneer
My words are coming out in an uncontrollable, rapid-fire way, like an auctioneer speaking to sell something
As the night has come alive with dreams
During the night, everything seems to be more alive and vivid, including the good and the bad dreams
That hoot and holler, spit and scream
My dreams are not silent, they're full of noise, shouting and crying
Every one of them is sick with lust
All my dreams revolve around lust, desire and longing
But every one of them will outlive us
Despite how strong and memorable my dreams are, they won't last forever, just like us
And if I really thought I could
If I truly believed that I could forget about you
I'd give up your ghost for good
I'd let go of the memories and feelings I have for you forever
But I'm not sure it isn't you
However, I'm unsure if it's actually you who's keeping me attached to you
That keeps my ghost from leaving too
My own memories are also hindering me from moving on
But I don't miss you half as much
Despite my mixed feelings, I don't long for you as much as before
As who you made me think I was
You created a false image of me in your mind, and I lost sight of who I truly am
When I could see myself the way you do
When I thought I could see myself from your perspective
I could almost see myself in you
I felt like we were one and the same, but it turned out not to be true
This time I'm not coming down
Reinforcement of the fact that I won't let the ground affect me
This time I'm not coming down
Repetition to emphasize that I won't give up this time
Trampoline
Final repetition of the chorus to indicate the theme of the song
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOE HENRY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind