Michelle Malone (born Atlanta, Georgia) is an American rock and blues singe… Read Full Bio ↴Michelle Malone (born Atlanta, Georgia) is an American rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. As well as albums in her own name, she has released albums as Michelle Malone and Drag the River and with Band de Soleil.

Armed with a bottleneck slide, blues harmonica, and her signature gut-wrenching vocals, Moanin’ Michelle Malone ( a nickname given to her by Albert King after hearing her sing), is having so much fun these days that she can’t help but shake her Sugarfoot!

Malone was born in the dirty south and grew up listening to her mother sing in the church choir every Sunday. When it came time to craft her own sound, she took those religious roots, blended in enough rock and soul to keep the devil satisfied, and came up with her 9th studio CD, Sugarfoot. It's a high-spirited stripped down blend of rootsy acoustic slide, gritty electric blues and explosive vocals – blues with just enough rough edges to get the medicine down. Sugarfoot sounds like the lost recordings of Bonnie Raitt and the Rolling Stones meeting up in Susan Tedeschi's garage for a late night jam session. And as is usually the case with Malone, the disc is an experience best enjoyed at high volume.

Songs such as "Tighten up the Springs" ,"Rooster 44" and "Traveling and Unraveling" highlight Malone's devil may care attitude and her slide guitar, which is becoming more and more of a signature for her. "I'm having a good time with it," she says. "Since I picked up the slide, I feel more free - I'm having more fun." She’s also working hard - Malone plays all the guitar, blues harp, and mandolin on the new disc.

Sugarfoot comes as close to capturing her raw spontaneity and grand, dirty, low-down power as anything to date. As well as being voted best blues guitarist on IAC.com, Sugarfoot have earned Malone critical acclaim on many "Best Of" lists including The Blues Critic Top 10 albums of the year, and multiple nominations for traditional blues rock album, best female blues vocals.

In keeping with her rough and tumble attitude, Malone averages 200 days a year on the road, and has shared stages and tours with such blues legends as Charlie Musselwhite, Johnny Winter, ZZ Top, Marsha Ball and the late Chris Whitley, as well as folk icons Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin, Jackson Browne and John Mayer. Malone’s live show is not to be missed - she can make the biggest venues seem as cozy as a camp fire, and an intimate venue feel like the center of the universe.

The Edge
Michelle Malone Lyrics

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I should try to speak
But all this fighting left me weak
If I could defend
But the ink runs from my pen

I'd beg you not to go away
We should be here together
Though we are somewhere near the edge

I'm begging you don't go away
We should be getting better
Though we are somewhere near the edge

And if I could erase
I'd leave the past without a trace
And with picture-perfect valentine
Replace the words disguised as mine

And beg you not to go away
We should be here together
Though we are somewhere near the edge
I'm begging you don't go away
We should be getting better
Though we are somewhere near the edge

Life is not living without you
Love is not loving without you

This is something that I feel
The tight squeeze and the cracking cold steel
And I can't stop it - my heart
Must be breaking

I'm begging you don't go away
We should be here together
Though we are somewhere near the edge
I'm begging you don't go away
We should be getting better

Though we are somewhere near the edge
Why are we somewhere near the edge

Overall Meaning

In Michelle Malone's song "The Edge," the impact of a love lost is powerfully expressed through poignant poetic language. The song reveals the agony of a relationship that is on the verge of collapse but still worth fighting for. The singer's heart is heavy with an overwhelming sense of regret as she wishes she could turn back time and make everything alright. The first verse reveals how the constant bickering and arguing have drained the singer, leaving her incapable of mustering up the strength to speak up for what she wants. The imagery of the ink running from the pen insinuates that the clarity of her preferred course of action is clouded by the confusion and uncertainty surrounding the situation. The chorus emphasizes the urgency of the singer's plea for her partner not to leave, and despite being near the edge of their relationship, the singer hopes that they can work things through and get better.

In the second verse, the singer expresses the wish to delete all the painful memories that have caused the relationship to deteriorate. They want to replace them with more positive experiences in the form of picture-perfect valentines, clichés usually associated with romantic love. However, the fact that the images will be "disguised" hints that what follows them will not be genuine and, like a Band-Aid solution to a problem that requires a deeper solution. The next repetition of the chorus reminds us about the importance of the relationship to the singer's whole world. The last section of the song is a raw and emotionally charged description of the physical and emotional effects of the relationship's impending end. The repetition of "I'm begging you, don't go away; we should be getting better, though we are somewhere near the edge" is the singer's final plea for the world not to tumble down around them. The line "life is not living without you, love is not loving without you" is an assertion that their love is worth fighting for and that their lives are intertwined.

Line by Line Meaning

I should try to speak
I want to express myself

But all this fighting left me weak
Arguments have drained me emotionally

If I could defend
If only I could stand up for myself

But the ink runs from my pen
My words fail me

I'd beg you not to go away
Please don't leave me

We should be here together
We belong together

Though we are somewhere near the edge
Our relationship is precarious

And if I could erase
If only I could undo my mistakes

I'd leave the past without a trace
I wish I could forget it all

And with picture-perfect valentine
Replace old memories with something better

Replace the words disguised as mine
Get rid of everything that was insincere