Lori McKenna’s first name is actually Lorraine. She is named after the mother she lost when she was only seven, but whose impact on Lori’s life reverberates to this day. In her sixth album, Lorraine, she considers the influence of her mother, who died at roughly the same age Lori is now, as well as her own place in relationship to her husband, family and community. It is her most personal album to date.
On the title track, Lori thinks back to scenes she remembers from her childhood (or thinks she does: “Well I don’t know if this part is true/How memories lie the way they do”) and how they reflect on her mother’s character: hard working, uncomplaining, sacrificing and loving, despite the health challenges that would eventually take her from her family. Lori allows the small details to carry the story. She remembers her mother smiling and dancing to a Judy Garland Carnegie Hall concert recording: “She said her cousin had a balcony seat.” If you lean in closely, you see the portrait of Lorraine taking shape. Her mother found joy in the music and joy that someone close to her had been lucky enough to be there, but no hint of feeling deprived for not experiencing it herself. Lorraine’s place was with her family, and she found contentment there. In the last verse, Lori looks at herself with the hope that she’s worthy of the name she was given, and the recognition that she might just be falling short (“I swear I’ve tried to be worthy of/The name they gave me when I was young/But I ain’t that pretty and I ain’t that brave/My kids have seen me cry/They should have given her name to my sister Marie/That don’t mean a thing to you but it does to me”).
Lori’s unusual combination of professional and personal life, at least in the context of the modern music industry, is well-documented. She grew up in Massachusetts in a musical household. Her father was an excellent singer, and her mother played the piano. Two of her older brothers were songwriters, one of whom (Richard) she considers largely responsible for her career. He accompanied a reluctant Lori to open mic nights and gave her confidence that she was good enough. She began performing her songs in public at age 27, after she and her husband Gene already had three children. She and Gene continue to maintain a happy home in Stoughton, Massachusetts, adding two more children to their full lives. In addition to family, place has an important role in Lori’s songs.
“Buy This Town” almost didn’t make the album. It was written the day after the album was completed, but Lori felt so strongly about the song, she and album producer Barry Dean went back to the studio to record it. It’s a love letter to Stoughton, replete with images of the working class environment and the good, hard-working people that are her neighbors. In the last verse of the song, she writes of a firefighter at the high school football game because his kid is playing. “That’s my neighbor John,” she says, “and his son Lucas is on the football team.” She also speaks about how place plays a role in some of her strongest and most enduring memories. It’s moments like a tearful one at the kitchen sink in the home she shares with Gene that Lori holds most dear (”If I could buy one night, I wouldn’t buy the one you’d think/I’d buy the one when my eyes teared up by the light above the kitchen sink/And you held me tight, and you begged me not to cry/If I could buy the sweetness of one kiss, that’s the one I’d buy/If I could buy one night”). The love of home and community is not some abstraction for Lori. It’s central to who she is.
She eventually became a staple of the Boston folk music scene, where she became friendly with Mary Gauthier. “We were the two old ladies in a sea of young faces,” she jokes. When Gauthier picked up and left for Nashville, she brought Lori’s music to the attention of her publisher. They got her music into the hands of Faith Hill, who fell hard for Lori’s songs. Hill recorded three of them for her album Fireflies. Lori’s way of articulating the love, pain and pathos of domestic life had a huge impact on Hill, and Hill’s very public championing of Lori’s music led other artists to Lori’s songs. Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Alison Krauss, Keith Urban and LeAnn Rimes are among the many that have recorded her songs in recent years.
That Lori is a master at chronicling the small, difficult moments between romantic partners as they navigate their relationships is a big reason her songs have been so popular with other artists. Though she and Gene have a strong and happy marriage, they, like all couples, have their moments when they are not connecting. Lori channels the vulnerability of those moments in songs that give voice to anyone who has felt insecure even in the most committed of relationships. In the lead track of the album, “The Luxury Of Knowing,” the protagonist’s constancy is juxtaposed against her partner’s mercurial nature (“But just when I think you’re a hurricane/You freeze right over and all that rain/Turns to ice and your whole world just starts snowing/And I don’t have the luxury of knowing”), leaving her unable to feel secure in the relationship (“Damn it must be easy/Being in love with someone so blind/Cuz I’ll tell you right now the only thing I really know/Is that you might change your mind”). There are also moments that celebrate the love that accompanies the daily grind. “You Get A Love Song” is a fun romp that reminds us that often there’s no gold star or plaque for just showing up every day for your loved one, but at least for Gene, he gets the starring role in one of his wife’s songs.
The increased acclaim for her song craft led to a record deal with Warner Brothers, who released her 2007 album Unglamorous. Working with Tim McGraw (who co-produced the album), an appearance on Oprah and an opening slot on McGraw and Faith Hill’s Soul2Soul tour were heady experiences, and Lori is grateful for them. “The whole experience was wonderful, and there were several at Warner Brothers that worked so hard for my album,” she says, but there was always a sense that her music and their goals were not going to result in a perfect professional marriage. “Recording in Nashville, as good as the experience has been in many ways, is not exactly the safest way to guard your creative instincts.” Sales levels that would seem astronomical by the standards of the folk community that nurtured her were not enough for a subsequent regime at Warner Brothers, and they parted amicably. “One thing that did come out of that experience was a much deeper confidence in myself as an artist,” says Lori, which was one reason she decided to take the reins back in her professional life. By choice, she has no label and no manager for the first time in her career.
The album closes with a prayer to Lorraine. Lori used to pray to her mother when she was a child: there was a strong sense that Lorraine was watching over her. “I think I made better choices in my life because I felt she was there,” Lori says. “Still Down Here” is a prayer that Lorraine and all the loved ones who leave their earthly burdens behind remember the ones still here on Earth, still in need of their love and guidance. With a daughter so empathetic to the human condition and so loyal and loving to her family and community, one guesses that Lorraine is looking down, very proud.
www.lorimckenna.com
Salt
Lori McKenna Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Happy for my room
And try to forget it
You kill me, I know,
The memory, I let it.
Hearts don’t fly,
But they can run like hell when they have to.
Didn’t leave you a note,
I didn’t leave you a photo,
I didn’t leave you a chance,
But I left you, I guess you know
You’re wondering now how long it takes
For I start missing you.
(Chorus)
Cause you ain’t worth the time,
You ain’t worth the pain,
You ain’t worth the spit in my mouth
When I scream out your name.
You ain’t worth the life,
They hand out in the town this small
You ain’t worth the sound of the TV
From the room down the hall.
On my waiting salt.
(Verse)
Six years of crying,
That’s all that you gave me,
Not one more thing,
Not even a baby.
We will close one time,
But I guess God is smarter than him.
You broke every promise,
You broke every whisper
You broke any other moment,
You kissed her and you never thought twice,
You never gave a damn.
(Chorus)
Cause you ain’t worth the time,
You ain’t worth the pain,
You ain’t worth the spit in my mouth
When I scream out your name.
You ain’t worth the life,
They hand out in the town this small
You ain’t worth the sound of the TV
Coming from the room down the hall.
On my waiting salt.
(Bridge)
All of the salt gathered from the seas
Can be collected from journals and prayers
It take you a month but someday’s still lived with a spoon.
To pour on you.
(Chorus)
Cause you ain’t worth the time,
You ain’t worth the pain,
You ain’t worth the spit in my mouth
When I scream out your name.
You ain’t worth the cost to repair
The hole in the kitchen dried warm.
You ain’t worth the good advice
Written on a dirty bathroom stall.
Boy, am I waiting salt, salt
My waiting salt.
(Verse)
I paid for my room
I try to forget it.
It kill me, I know,
The memory, if I let it.
Hearts don’t fly,
But they can run like hell if they have to.
In "Salt," Lori McKenna sings about the fallout of a failed relationship. The song begins with the singer stating that she is trying to move on from her past relationship, but she cannot do so without acknowledging the pain that her former partner has caused her. She is grateful for her current situation and feels as though she made the right choice in leaving her past behind.
The verse establishes that the singer decided to end the relationship without giving a warning or leaving any belongings behind. Despite this, she knows that the memory of the relationship will linger. The singer states that hearts do not fly, but they can run, indicating that she is moving on quickly. However, this does not diminish the hurt that was caused. The chorus highlights the singer's feelings regarding the past relationship. She believes that her previous partner was not worth her time or pain, and she feels that he was never worth the life that the small town she lives in offers. The chorus mentions various examples, such as screaming out his name, the sound of the TV from the room down the hall, and the salt that she is waiting to pour on him.
In the second verse, the singer reflects on the time that she spent crying over her broken relationship. She says that her previous partner did not give her anything, not even a child. Despite her own feelings, she acknowledges that it is all a part of God's plan. In the chorus, the singer again reiterates that her previous partner was not worth the pain and suffering that he caused her. She does not believe he is worth repairing the hole in the kitchen or the advice written in a dirty bathroom stall. The bridge talks about the salt that she is waiting to pour on him, stating that it will take some time to collect all of it but emphasizing that it is worth the wait. The song ends with a repetition of the first verse and chorus, and the singer notes that while hearts do not fly, they can run when they need to.
Line by Line Meaning
Happy for my room
I am content with my current surroundings
And try to forget it
I am attempting to erase unpleasant memories
You kill me, I know,
Your actions have caused me immense emotional pain
The memory, I let it.
I am trying to move past the hurtful memories
Hearts don’t fly,
Love does not always transcend reality
But they can run like hell when they have to.
Love can inspire us to make significant changes in our lives
Didn’t leave you a note,
I did not leave any form of communication with you
I didn’t leave you a photo,
I did not leave any visual reminders of our time together
I didn’t leave you a chance,
I did not provide you with an opportunity to reconcile with me
But I left you, I guess you know
I ended our relationship and assume you are aware of this fact
You’re wondering now how long it takes
You are likely questioning when I will begin to miss you
For I start missing you.
I am not sure when I will begin to miss you, if ever
Cause you ain’t worth the time,
You are not worth the effort or attention
You ain’t worth the pain,
You are not worth the emotional suffering
You ain’t worth the spit in my mouth When I scream out your name.
You are not even worth the saliva that would come from shouting your name
You ain’t worth the life,
You are not worth the energy or existence it takes to sustain life
They hand out in the town this small
This small town does not have much to offer in terms of opportunity or prospects
You ain’t worth the sound of the TV
Even the background noise of a television is more valuable than you
Coming from the room down the hall.
This small consolation is what I have to occupy myself with
Six years of crying,
I spent six years feeling sad
That’s all that you gave me,
Our relationship was devoid of anything meaningful or substantial
Not one more thing,
You did not provide me with any other positive experiences or memories
Not even a baby.
We did not even have a child together to justify our relationship's existence
We will close one time,
We will eventually let go of each other entirely
But I guess God is smarter than him.
God has a greater plan and purpose compared to what you could have brought into my life
You broke every promise,
You failed to keep any of your promises to me
You broke every whisper
You betrayed my trust and shared secrets
You broke any other moment,
You ruined every other aspect of our relationship
You kissed her and you never thought twice,
You cheated on me without any hesitation or regret
You never gave a damn.
You never showed any level of care or concern for me
All of the salt gathered from the seas
Collecting all the salt from the vast oceans
Can be collected from journals and prayers
The salt of my tears is vast and could fill my journals and be heard in my prayers
It take you a month but someday’s still lived with a spoon.
It would take you a month to accumulate the amount of salt created by my tears
To pour on you.
I intend to pour this salt on you as a symbol of your worthlessness to me
You ain’t worth the cost to repair
Fixing the damages caused by you is not worth the effort
The hole in the kitchen dried warm.
Even the trivial damages that you caused are not worth fixing
You ain’t worth the good advice
Even the unsolicited advice found in unclean restrooms is more beneficial than you
Written on a dirty bathroom stall.
The only place for this type of advice is on a dirty bathroom stall
Boy, am I waiting salt, salt
I am patiently waiting for the opportunity to pour my collected tears on you
I paid for my room
I bear the cost of my living situation
It kill me, I know,
The memories of you still cause me pain
If I let it.
I sometimes let myself remember our relationship even though it is painful to do so.
Contributed by Savannah N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.