Joanna Newsom - Does Not Suffice (with lyrics)

[MatheusAgostin]

The Cosmia part killed me.

[blueberrygin]

To hear this is to watch the most seductively sad and melancholy 6-minute short my mind can imagine. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes, they are wrong.

[Muskiemazing]

this song struck my heart

[alex84950]

It's great someone uploaded the song with lyrics because it just shows her choice of words are peerless. Just the joy of language, of phrases and double meanings, of imagery and even the musicality of the words themselves 'quiet as gondoliers' just delicious, listing those types of fabric, cartouche,cashmere, tweed and silver shot. sorry i'll stop evangelising.

[TheIskra127]

The echo on the "La la la's" just kill me

[TheIkaraCult]

i dont know what part of Joanna Newsom this song came from, and i never want to know. Like all the best songs it belongs to us from the minute we hear it.

[m8cct]

Not only is it a sad song, but she captures a truly REAL feeling, and avoids every possible cliche on the topic, which is astounding considering the sheer amount of music written on the topic of breakup/heartbreak. Simply brilliant lyricism.

[slithygogs]

Does anyone else hear Cosmia in the piano at 5:23?

[atrus89]

It hurts even more when you hear exact same thing you've done to one you love

[wayfaringstoner]

this song gives me goosebumps to the point where it's actually quite uncomfortable! What a heart-wrenching little ditty. love the fiddle at the end too

[wayfaringstoner]

this song gives me goosebumps to the point where it's actually quite uncomfortable! What a heart-wrenching little ditty.

[justapeachygurl]

The last time I cried over a song was when I heard the Lighthouse's Tale. This is intense...

[higgobraga]

That made me cry. Too damn touching. Beautiful.

[sammyenn]

she's amazing. same instrumental as in california.

the line "...everything that could remind you of how easy i was not."

woven this thread throughout all three discs.

easy, in california, does not suffice.

incredible.

[SteeRnschNuPPe]

LOVE!

[ghostofdayinperson]

Any man who couldn't love Joanna isn't worth it.....but I'm glad he inspired this song

[juxacrux]

when i had gotten out of a long relationship, i turned this song on repeat and just sobbed.

the tune, the words, everything just feels like not heartbreak, but acceptance of that heartbreak. no generic pop breakup song can do that for me.

[ricachic]

this has to be one of the most beautifully sad songs I've ever heard, I dont know what more to say except that it truly breaks my heart

[excavare]

5:38 - 6:45 breaks my heart each time.

[Andreasleon27]

This might be her finest moment

For some reason it also made me want to listen to elton johns song sacrifice

[youthdecay411]

@5:37 oh god, always gives me chills. This album is one of the best I have ever heard in my life.

[LanIost]

Ok, It's not jut a a coinsidence. The part before the easy riff is one of the other parts off In California "content to see my garden grow" - that part. Then the piano riff that has been used in In California and in Only Skin.

[LanIost]

It's beyond that acutally.. the most I listen to it.. it has the EXACT same melody. Same parts where she stresses her vocals.. high pitches. low pitches. It's the same.

Am I crazy? I can't be the only one who has noticed this.

[NIALLDOTCOM]

@LanIost Throughout the entire album she brings themes and motifs back all over the place. It's as if it's a libretto with composition, intensely planned out, act by act, not song by song.

[LanIost]

My mp3 player screwed up the other day and started skipping through songs. I thought this was some secret version of In California. I've been listening to this album since it came out and I haven't got through every song in detail yet. Somehow I hadn't listened to this song at all. Has anyone noticed that this melody is EXACTLY the same as "In California"

You can seen the lyrics right over it and it fits. Deja Vu. Wow, even the piano is exactly the same down to the tiniest touches.

[ranice]

@LanIost On the album (which I bought physically), the song is called 'Does Not Suffice (In California, Refrain)' ;)

[twizzlers9]

Where it starts at 5:39 - 610 It made my eyes water, it's so beautiful.

[twizzlers9]

The ending music, made me cry, it wrapped it up, with such touching melodies.

[Andreasleon27]

vegeta that is the best lyric i think so too it stood out so moving

[GDGspire]

Is the ending music not heartbreakingly beautiful? A fanatastic finish to a fantastic album.

[asteroid1717]

Sadder than the slow parts of Only Skin. Sadder than the arrangement of Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie off of Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band. Sadder than that Disney movie that made you cry when you were five.

[justforthesparks]

its suposed to have the same notes as california right?

[TheRick4life]

omg, the ending gives me the chills <3

[Jordarnm]

Have One On Me is her album of self-indulgence. This is indulgent, but it's also, horribly, horribly sad. It destroys me every time I listen to it, thinking of loves lost. It's summed up in the title - nothing suffices after a blow like that, everything is not enough. It's indulgent for the reason that nothing suffices, no level of grief is self-involved enough to scour the sorrow away.

Honestly, I think this is sadder than the Ys version of Cosmia, and she starts crying during that.

[Jordarnm]

@Jordarnm Plus, I think she acknowledges the indulgent aspect - she's packing away everything that could remind her lost "of how easy I was not".

[awesomefriends010]

It's like she found the perfect equation to touch a person on the inside.

[blackglassesgirl]

Picturing the section from 5:22 to the end with Simon's death from Lord of the Flies.

CRYING LIKE BABY.

Her music is so beautiful. :'D

[blackglassesgirl]

@blackglassesgirl I don't mean to be inappropriate or insensitive; that part of the song is just so strikingly powerful, and to me, it aligns with one of the most affecting and heartbreaking images I can find in literature.

[spiritkazoo]

@everyone:

I love Joanna Newsom fans. What a well-worded bunch!

[asingleman28]

This is a response to Smog's (Bill Callahan, Joanna's ex boyfriend) "All Your Woman Things" in which the man is left looking around a room, after a break up, at all the girlish things his ex left behind to remind him of her. In Joanna's song, she goes in and cleans it all up, leaving nothing.

La la la la la la ... la la la la la....

The echo as she gets further and further away from him.

[squirtgunrobbery]

why doesn't she ever perform this live? this and Go Long are the only two she doesn't ever perform, I believe. it's a shame, since those are the two best songs on the new record. so beautifull.

[asingleman28]

@squirtgunrobbery My guess is that this song is too personal or close to her.

Some things you don't want to share in front of a live audience as it may feel too much for you. Musically, it's not complex. So it would be a good song to close a show with or even as an encore. "Go Long" has popped up every now and then during her live shows. I just think "Go Long" doesn't suit a live audience. It's very labored and slow.

[squirtgunrobbery]

@asingleman28 Yeah maybe for Does Not Suffice. But Go Long isn't too slow, I don't think. She sings "Autumn" which is really really slow and labored.

[asingleman28]

@squirtgunrobbery I think she plays "Autumn" because it utilizes everyone on stage from the horns to the drummer and it sounds completely gorgeous in a theater setting with acoustics. "Go Long" also seems kind of hard to hit vocally. She complains a lot when she plays "Soft as Chalk" that she doesn't hit the notes. Maybe "Go Long" freaks her out.

[squirtgunrobbery]

@asingleman28 yeah you're probably right actually. it sucks though. its truthfully the best thing she's ever done, in terms of lyricism and majesty.

[Jordarnm]

@squirtgunrobbery I think she no longer performs it because it's no longer relevant. One thing you can say about Joanna Newsom live performances is that they're packed full of emotional sincerity; and I don't think she feels this song keenly enough any more to do it justice.

[thenoah23]

my favourite song from the new album

[kissthecossack]

weirdly, this always gives me the sense of marie antionette apologising to the french people for her indulgent shortcomings (keeping with the ironic title). but remember, just like great literature, the opinion of the listener here is as valid as that of the writer, she's a writer, poetess, a truly eminent artist.

[asingleman28]

@kissthecossack HOOM is an epic album that has a central theme. Joanna refers back to "Easy", the album's beginning song in this one. "How easy I was not."

This is the definitive break up album.

[McManatee]

weep-worthy

[spectrum99122]

I try to avoid poetry at all costs, on every occasion. So why am I intrigued and bewitched by this?

[esprit15d]

@spectrum99122 cuz it rox

[Jonisapsuedonym]

Her vocals are actually great now. Wow. I'm happy I wasn't so quick to judge from the Plum video.

[philipsmog]

I don't find this story sad, it's ridiculously self-indulgent, but also ridiculously beautiful.

[ravengypsywings]

@philipsmog I think she's aware of the self-indulgent part. I mean, there is a reason why she is pointing out the decadent items she is packing up--it is like an admission of her frivolity. Nevertheless, she concludes with the tap of hangers in the closet--the concept being that there is an emptiness. I think it's sad only because of her regret and confusion. (A confusion that might very well be artistic and the result of that very indulgence.) But yes, beautiful. :)

[lmaonaiselaol]

god i love how the melody is the same from that dramtaic part in "in california," kinda suggests the whole album has a theme, concept, or story

[TheGreatEcstasy]

From a mans perspective this sounds like the lyrics of a woman admitting she made the guys life miserable accepting defeat and moving on. Interesting.

[hewhosayszonk]

@TheGreatEcstasy I don't see how that's a man's perspective, I have a penis and that's not at all the meaning I got from it.

[13strong]

Ah, this song is amazing in so many ways. The way it blends melodies from the other songs on the album (California is always the one that jumps out for me). The way it's so sad, but also incredibly empowering - she sounds so defiant but accepting. And the end, when her voice becomes echoed, like she's standing in the big, cavernous empty house removed of furniture and possessions. And then the last, wordless singing, as if there's nothing more to say.

One of the best musicians of this century.

[piefolk]

I think the repetition gives the album a thematic through line. I think I would like to cover this song, and I very well might.

[DenverMini]

I thought she'd hit her saddest mark with the amazing "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie", but I think this one might actually beat it. I mean, listening to two hours of her beautiful music and then being left with this heart-wrenching thing?? I wouldn't be surprised if someone actually died from sorrow after hearing this.

[ohlordbabyjesus]

@DenverMini

We can only hope.

[GermaniasWacht]

@DenverMini I did...

[TaylorRama]

"and everything that could remind you of how easy I was not"

[purpleandgreen]

I agree with those pointing out the common bit this song has with Cosmia. Both songs are about profound losses (Cosmia about her friend who died, this one presumably about moving out of Bill Callahan's place..?) And that rhythmic structure captures the furious persistent pain of loss so beautifully...

[angievigilante]

i think she lost a baby too....

[Steerpikey]

I can't yet grasp how beautiful this song is

[Vegeta187x]

"...and everywhere I tried to love you,

is yours again,

and only yours."

:(

[esprit15d]

@Vegeta187x that line feels awful. i barely survived it.

[eskimoKUKL]

i love endings like this. especially the last minute and a half. beautiful.

[brightslumber]

Hearts and possessions divide... I think we've all been here.

[DearRitaxx]

Best song on the album. Thank you for putting it up<3

[TaylorRama]

This song is so incredibly sad. It's a very heavy and moving ending to Have One On Me.

[jacobrayyy]

i really like how she repeats some of her music in this album. the beginning of this song sounds almost exactly like a part of "in california". i know some people say that this is unoriginal or stupid, but in a way it makes me feel as if this entire album is an autobiography or some epic story. in another song, which i can't seem to remember which one it is now, there is an instrumental part that sounds alot like a part in "ys". i think her repetitiveness is genius and extremely creative.

[JansRox]

the whole album is an epic story,,, or a love story... or just joanna's story.

[flavaflavs]

@jacobrayyy

This song is subtitled 'In California, Refrain', meaning its somewhat of a reprise to In California. I love it when In California's melody kicks in. It's a good song but I don't like the fact that the melody stays the same for so long in the beginning. Until the In California melody, the entire song doesn't change much.

[esprit15d]

@flavaflavs I see where you are comng from, and I contemplate this fact as well, but the great contrast comes in the way she sings it, which is very unpredictable and teeters on the melody. Also, the relentlessness of the melody almost marches you to the inevitable end of this relationship (in mood), so i like the effect of it.

[flavaflavs]

@esprit15d

Yeah I've come to embrace it. Especially since I'm only really listening to the piano this very moment, the piano is constantly changing and hitting unpredictable notes while staying constant throughout the song, in a jazzy way almost. There's something interesting and lullaby-ish about the repetition in this one. It's not one of my favourites by any means but there's no denying it's beauty, especially considering its simplicity.

[TenorSaxFace]

I heard that, too! I've only listened once through the album, but that part you're talking about is like the end of Cosmia, with the rising strings, after the lyric "and then the moonlight caught your eye / and you rose through the air". Word!

[jacobrayyy]

yeahh it's cosmia! i thought so, but i wasn't sure so i wasn't going to put it down and sound like i didn't know what i was talking about :p thanks!

[Steerpikey]

@jacobrayyy: exactly... she seems to be creating music in the ancient tradition of storytelling, like medieval bards repeating the patterns of their ballads... it helps to imprint her visions in our memories.

[LauraLeonTolstoy]

Big Big song.