Josh Ritter "The Temptation of Adam"

(This version of the song is a little different than the one I am writing about, it doesn't include the strings/horns interpretation, but you get the same fabulous effects of the beautiful lyrics in this incredible song).


For all the songwriter’s out there today, I cannot think of a better lyricist than Josh Ritter. He knows when and how to use a catchy tune with a full band in songs like “Kathleen” and “Right Moves,” but reserves his most poetic story-telling lyrics for instrumentation that only serves to prepare and take listeners on the experiential journey he is about to describe. “The Temptation of Adam” is the supreme example of Josh Ritter’s written gems that refuses to be dusted over in the minds of any one who has experienced truly sitting down and listening to this song word for word. The soft fluttering strings of the intro conjure up images of a quiet morning dawn, slowly granting the listener perception into the story he or she is about to be swept into. French horn comes in over the strings with a simple melody line repeated twice to create direction in the serene atmosphere. We could easily be fooled into thinking we are about to hear an orchestral piece until the horns finish their call and an electronic synthesizer quietly bubbles the scene away as the strings fade out and the story begins told in lyrics so sweet you won’t want to miss a single word.

After the introduction, the somewhat simple serene backdrop of his warm rhythmic acoustic finger picking creates the steady line of tension that the content of the song lies upon. The story is told poetically and colloquially as stories are often told with details of crossword puzzles with five letter words and warhead missile silo hatches that create crisp images to attach the deeper meaning of the song around. Each stanza takes us through the stages of a forming relationship, while cataloging the reasons why this love might not be attainable. The song follows a constant form of ABABABABAB, where the A section generally tells part of the story, while the B section describes the feelings happening under the surface. The story happens so quickly, and the words are so powerful, that one is compelled to return to listen over and over again.

The most beautiful love songs that are impossible to discard occur are recognized by the webs of meaning they create. So that each time the song is listened to, a new feeling or idea is conjured in the process of listening. “The Temptation of Adam” offers many layers of understanding to be discovered by the listener. From what I’ve gathered in my personal listenings, he describes war as a metaphor for love. The song begins “If this was a cold war we could keep each other warm.” So if love was a cold war free of physical contact a war in which people enter with the sole purpose of avoiding destruction, then he and Marie could “keep each other warm.” This is interesting because by keeping each other warm they are coming closer to changing the role that love plays in their lives; it is no longer cold, it comes closer to creating a bond, but it hasn’t yet crossed into a full fledged battle/war. Then he imagines the two of them living in a missile silo with a big red button that would allow him to launch the missile, it is on the grounds of preparation for battle where their relationship is formed. Now instead of love being viewed as a “Cold War,” love is being viewed as a World War, “the Big One.” These terms merge the idea of lifelong marriage with war, the big one could be referring to the big war, or it could be referring to “the one” one is meant to be with. If this correlation is correct, than the song really seems to view love as potentially destructive. Yet the glimpses we get into their relationship seem so romantic. Instead of carving their names into a tree as lovers are thought to do, he is pleading that they pretend that “this giant missile is an old oak tree instead” so they can “carve our name in hearts into the warhead.” He is trying to navigate a love that he feels deep down “just won’t work out above,” and gets at the extreme fear and tension of trying to hold on to a love that he thinks might “live a half life on the surface.” He continues in lines that are as heartwarming as they are heartbreaking “so at night while you are sleeping I hold you closer just because, as our time grows short I get a little nervous.”

The way this song is sung as a story that is being reflected upon and has not yet come to a final conclusion is reflected in the melodic A and B sections that end somewhat abruptly on the words “I think about that great big button and I’m tempted.” The tension here is that he seems to be tempted to live with Marie forever, to “stick pins in the map of all the places that you thought that love would be found”; but by saying he is tempted, he also seems to be saying he is tempted to push the great big button that would send the warhead missile into the earth and create the end of the world. Again there is tension in the idea that love could be great, but it could feel like the end of the world to give everything up for “the big one.” This song really gets to the heart of love in a way that most love songs cannot achieve. He balances this story on the delicate guitar line, creating a format for the listener to walk our way through this cold war zone that is on the brink of becoming something terribly powerful. Because his words are so powerful, and his music allows for the words to be carried and brought into existence with his calm honest voice, the listener feels equally heartbroken and hopeful at the end of the song. An effect that is rare and difficult to achieve in such a powerfully insightful way as Ritter has accomplished in this seemingly simple, yet masterfully worded song.