Album Review: David Serby - Another Sleepless Night

It was a coincidence that the first time I heard David Serby was after I finished listening to a Dwight Yoakam mixed CD that my aunt put together for me. Serby doesn’t particularly sound or sing like Yoakam, but the Bakersfield influence permeates throught the tracks on Another Sleepless Night.

Serby posesses a notably distinctive voice characterized by sharply punctuated words. Just as the punctuated sounds almost become burdensome to the listener, a slower, more drawn out song is masterfully inserted (some of which are my favorites on the album). The vividly simple lyrics tell daunting tales of lost loves, heart aches, and cheating. Another Sleepless Night would be a throughly depressing album if it weren’t for the upbeat tempos and melodies. David Serby says “There aren’t a lot of happy endings in my songs, I know that, and I’ve tried to find some. But like a lot of folks, in my life the most memorable things that have happened to me were the saddest. There’s tremendous feeling in the bad things - That’s what I end up coming back to, and that’s what I end up singing about.”

I won’t talk about all the songs, just a few of my favorites.

• “Nobody Here By That Name” begins with a man laying in bed with his wife when the phone rings. The voice on the other end of the line is an old flame. He doesn’t want the cheatin’ memories to disrupt what he has with his wife, so he tells the lady on the other end that there’s “nobody here by that name.” But the skeletons in his closet keep popping up as he hears a knockin’ on his door. It’s his “old dance partner” and he tells her that that old two-timer don’t live here anymore.
• In “It Ain’t A Party” he sings about a guy who was on the mend, but then went to a party and it set him back where he started because his former lady was there kissing his best friend. Then he wryly admits to himself, “it ain’t a party ’till something gets broke.” Harsh.
• As a real-life event “Blame It On July” would fall into the fantastically corny category, but as a song it becomes somewhat comical. Once again, a guy’s girl is breaking up with him, but he wants her to wait until summer so that when his cheeks become moist he can blame it on July.
• “Easy To Forget” is one of the aforementioned slower, more drawn out songs. Serby holds his notes in what becomes one of my favorites. “It’s easy to forget all the lies we told / trying save a love / that’s grown so sad and cold / just hold me one more time / ‘cuz I can’t let go yet.”
• “Short Story Long” is one of the rare instances where Serby portrays the guy as having a cold heart. His girl is ticking off all that’s he done wrong, airing out his laundry list of dumb mistakes. This goes on for an hour or so before he tells her “Just lock me out / that’s all you gotta do / and you won’t have to talk at me until you turn blue.” I think we’ve all felt like that at one time or another.
• “Don’t Turn On The Light” is another rare slow song, and once again, another one of my favorites. “I sit in the dark / and I stare at the clock / and wait for your key to hit the lock / ‘cuz you been stayin’ out later each night / when you walk through that door / don’t turn on the light / don’t, baby don’t turn on the light / I’m ashamed and I don’t want you to see me cry / you’re guilty and I know it / I see it in your eyes / so don’t, baby don’t turn on the lights.”

The common thread throughout the album is heartbreak, something that almost anyone who has been in a relationship can relate to. Serby has a way of taking all those little things that hurt the most, writing about them in his lyrics, and putting them to his style of music. It’s easy to get lost in the stories, but each track is accompanied by superb instrumentation from people who have played with other well known artists. Another Sleepless Night has piqued my interest enough to check out past work by David Serby, and will leave me looking forward to future endeavors.