Born to two neuroscientists, Ritter bought his first guitar from the local K-MART after hearing the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash classic Girl From The North Country. He started at Oberlin College with the intent to follow in his parents' scientist footsteps, but instead discovered songwriting, and the music of artists like Gillian Welch, Townes Van Zandt, and Leonard Cohen. He graduated and then moved east, favoring its close proximity to historic folk clubs such as "Club Passim" in Boston. On a shoestring budget he recorded his critically acclaimed breakthrough album Golden Age of Radio in 2002 at various tiny, one-room studios on the East Coast. He has continued to grow from there, further developing his sound on subsequent albums.
Josh has recorded several records and E.P.s. In chronological order, they are:
Josh Ritter (Self Titled) (2000)
Golden Age of Radio (2001)
Come and Find Me EP (2003)
Hello Starling (2003)
4 Songs Live E.P. (2005)
The Animal Years (2006)
Girl In The War E.P. (2006)
Good Man E.P. (2006)
In The Dark: Live At Vicar Street (2006)
The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter (2007)
Live at the Record Exchange EP (2008)
So Runs the World Away (2010)
To the Yet Unknowing World (2011)
Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band, Live at The Iveagh Gardens (April 2011)
The Beast In Its Tracks (2013)
Acoustic Live, Vol.1 (2015)
Sermon on the Rocks (2015)
Other Side
Josh Ritter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Conestoga wagons left tracks you can see from space
From the Northwest passage to the Great Divide
Everybody's looking for the other side
I'm still waiting for the whiskey to whisk me away
And I'm still waiting for the ashra to lead me astray
I twist the culdesacs into one way signs
So at night I sit and watch for stars to stay
They wink and then they're gone down the Milky Way
But when You're left in the middle of the Midwest sky
Everywhere you look is the Other Side
In these lyrics, Josh Ritter highlights the idea that the West, as we know it or have come to understand it through stories, is a construct that we have created to mask the original culture and history of the American people. Ritter talks about the Conestoga wagons, a specific type of wagon used by settlers to migrate west in the 19th century, and how they have left tracks that could be seen from space. He then references the Northwest passage and the Great Divide, highlighting that even with evidence of that time of settlement, there is still a desire to find more information about the other side, what else could be out there that we do not yet know.
The next set of lyrics highlights a desire to escape, with references to waiting for the whiskey to whisk you away and for the ashra to lead you astray. The notion of setting the streets into one-way signs, and not going round in circles, speaks to the idea that while these things might help in granting that sensation of escape, Ritter acknowledges that avoiding reality is not sustainable. Finally, Ritter talks about the Midwest sky and how everything there is the other side; highlighting that regardless of where you are, there is always the sense of the unknown.
Line by Line Meaning
Say the west is a story we made up to erase
We have created this idea of the west to forget about the past
Conestoga wagons left tracks you can see from space
The pioneers' trail is still visible from above
From the Northwest passage to the Great Divide
People are always searching for something more
Everybody's looking for the other side
We all want something more or different than what we have
I'm still waiting for the whiskey to whisk me away
I'm waiting for something to take me to a different place or state of mind
And I'm still waiting for the ashra to lead me astray
I am waiting for an opportunity to deviate from my current path
I twist the culdesacs into one way signs
I try to find new directions even in a dead end
I ain't going round in circles on the other side
I refuse to be trapped in a repetitive cycle
So at night I sit and watch for stars to stay
I am waiting for a sign or something to guide me
They wink and then they're gone down the Milky Way
The stars are fleeting and unpredictable
But when You're left in the middle of the Midwest sky
When you are alone and surrounded by emptiness
Everywhere you look is the Other Side
Every direction seems to lead to something unknown or different
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JOSH RITTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
MichelleOo93
A beautiful song
Dan Bowen
One of my all time favorites
Maven of Macau
The whole album is a masterpiece
Carol McLaine
Now I want to look up Ashra.....sure it will lead me astray, for a bit at least.