Williams has garnered considerable critical acclaim but her commercial success has been moderate. She has a reputation as a perfectionist and as a slow worker when it comes to recording; six years passed between the release of her second and third albums. However, she frequently makes guest appearances on other artists' albums and contributes to compilations and soundtracks. She has recorded with Elvis Costello, Nanci Griffith, John Prine, Leftover Salmon, and Steve Earle, among others. She has also opened concerts for artists such as Neil Young.
Early life
Williams was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the daughter of poet and literature professor Miller Williams. Her father worked as a visiting professor in Mexico and Chile as well as different parts of the American South, before settling at the University of Arkansas. His daughter showed an affinity for music at an early age, and was playing guitar at 12.
Career
By her early 20s, Williams was playing publicly in Austin, Texas and Houston, Texas, concentrating on a folk-rock-country blend. She moved to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1978 to record her first album, for Smithsonian/Folkways Records. Titled Ramblin', it was a collection of country and blues covers. She followed it up in 1980 with Happy Woman Blues, which consisted of her own material. Neither album received much attention.
In the 1980s Williams moved to Los Angeles, California (before finally settling in Nashville, TN), where -- performing both backed by a rock band and in acoustic settings -- she developed a following and a critical reputation. Nevertheless, it was not until 1988 that Rough Trade Records released the self-titled Lucinda Williams. The single "Changed the Locks", about a broken relationship, received radio play around the country and gained fans among music insiders, including Tom Petty, who would later cover the song.
Its follow-up, Sweet Old World (Chameleon, 1992), was a melancholy album dealing with themes of suicide and death. Williams's biggest success during the early '90s was as a songwriter. Mary Chapin Carpenter recorded a cover of "Passionate Kisses" (from Lucinda Williams) in 1992, and the song became a smash country hit for which Williams received the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994.
Williams had garnered considerable critical acclaim, but her commercial success was moderate. Emmylou Harris said of Williams, "She is an example of the best of what country at least says it is. But, for some reason, she's completely out of the loop. And I feel strongly that that's country music's loss."
Williams also gained a reputation as a perfectionist and slow worker when it came to recording; six years would pass before her next album release, though she appeared as a guest on other artists' albums and contributed to several tribute compilations during this period.
The long-awaited release, 1998's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was Williams' breakthrough to the mainstream. Containing the single "Still I Long for Your Kiss" from the Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer, the album received wide critical notice and soon went gold. It received a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. She toured with Bob Dylan and on her own in support of the album.
Williams followed up the success of Car Wheels with Essence (2001). This release featured a less produced, more stripped-down approach both musically and lyrically, and moved Williams further from the country music establishment while winning fans in the alternative music world. She won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Rock performance for the single "Get Right With God", an atypically uptempo gospel-rock tune from the otherwise rather low-key release. The title track was co-written and co-recorded with alternative country musician Ryan Adams.
Her seventh album, World Without Tears, was released in 2003. A musically adventurous though lyrically downbeat album, this release found Williams experimenting with talking blues stylings and electric blues.
In 2006, Lucinda recorded a version of the John Hartford classic "Gentle On My Mind," which played over the closing credits of the Will Ferrell filmTalladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
Williams was a guest vocalist on the song "Factory Girls" from Irish punk-folk band Flogging Molly's 2004 album, "Within a Mile of Home", and appeared on Elvis Costello's The Delivery Man. She duetted with Steve Earle on the song "You're Still Standin' There" from his album I Feel Alright from 1996.
Williams released the album "West" on February 13, 2007, to mostly good reviews. The material is highly personal, chronicling the death of her mother and the breakup of a turbulent relationship.
Lucinda released her ninth studio album, "Little Honey", on October 14th.
Copenhagen
Lucinda Williams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Struck in my face and shattering
Covering me in a fine powder and mist
And mixing in with my tears
And I'm fifty seven but I could be seven years old,
Cos I will never be able
To comprehend the expansiveness
But you, have disappeared
You have been released
You are flecks of light
You are missed
Somewhere, spinning round the sun
Circling the moon
Traveling through time
You are missed
Walking through unfamiliar streets
And I'm shaking unfamiliar hands
And I'm hearing unfamiliar laughs
And lovely language I don't understand
It's late October in Copenhagen
The skies are grey, the snow is falling
I see my breath outside, I'm freezing
I'm motionless, I'm disbelieving
But you, have disappeared
You have been released
You are flecks of light
You are missed
Somewhere, spinning round the sun
Circling the moon
Traveling through time
You are missed
In the song Copenhagen, Lucinda Williams expresses her grief over the loss of a loved one. The opening lines describe the impact of hearing devastating news, using the metaphor of a snowball striking her face, covering her in powder and mist, and mingling with her tears. Even though she is 57 years old, the news makes her feel like a child again, unable to comprehend the vastness of what she has just learned. The repetition of the line "you are missed" throughout the song highlights the deep sense of loss and longing she feels for the departed person.
Williams also explores the disorienting experience of being in a foreign place without her loved one. Walking through unfamiliar streets, shaking unfamiliar hands, and hearing unfamiliar laughter and language all serve to intensify her sense of displacement and isolation. Though the physical setting of the song is Copenhagen in late October, Williams uses the images of the grey skies and falling snow to create a mood of general gloom and despair that could be happening anywhere.
Overall, Copenhagen is a poignant exploration of the universal experience of grief and the ways in which it can make us feel lost and dislocated in the world.
Line by Line Meaning
Thundering news hits me like a snowball
The news that I got came in so suddenly and unexpectedly that it was overwhelming, like a snowball striking me in the face.
Struck in my face and shattering
The news hit me with such a force that it felt like something shattering in my face.
Covering me in a fine powder and mist
The impact of the news felt like it covered me in a fine powder and mist that made me feel weak and vulnerable.
And mixing in with my tears
The overwhelming feeling of the news mixed in with my tears and emotions, making it even harder to process.
And I'm fifty seven but I could be seven years old,
Despite being older and wiser, the impact of the news made me feel like a helpless child that couldn't understand what was happening.
Cos I will never be able
Because of the shock and emotion of the news, I know I will never be able to process it fully.
To comprehend the expansiveness
The magnitude of the news is so large and overwhelming that I cannot fully comprehend it.
Of what I've just learned
The news that I received was so unexpected and shocking that I'm still trying to process it.
But you, have disappeared
After hearing the news, the person that the singer is addressing has disappeared or passed away.
You have been released
The person the singer is addressing has died and been released from the physical world.
You are flecks of light
The person they are addressing is now a memory or spirit that shines like a star in the sky.
You are missed
The person who passed away is deeply missed by the singer.
Somewhere, spinning round the sun
The person who passed away is somewhere in the world spinning around the sun, as if in a cycle of life and death.
Circling the moon
The person who passed away is now in a spiritual realm, circling around the moon and stars.
Traveling through time
The person who passed away is now in a time that is different from the world we live in, traveling through an unknown dimension.
Walking through unfamiliar streets
After the person's death, the singer is now in a foreign place where everything is unfamiliar and strange.
And I'm shaking unfamiliar hands
The singer is meeting new people and shaking hands with strangers in this unfamiliar place.
And I'm hearing unfamiliar laughs
The singer is hearing laughter from people who are strangers and are speaking a language she doesn't understand.
And lovely language I don't understand
The singer is surrounded by a beautiful language that she doesn't understand.
It's late October in Copenhagen
The time and place where this is all happening is in late October in Copenhagen.
The skies are grey, the snow is falling
The weather in Copenhagen is grey and snowy.
I see my breath outside, I'm freezing
The singer is cold and can see her breath outside in the winter air.
I'm motionless, I'm disbelieving
After hearing the news and being in this unfamiliar place, the singer is now in shock and disbelief, feeling frozen and unable to move.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind