Music Review: Sheryl Crow "Everyday Is A Winding Road"

Sheryl Crow

Everyday IsA Winding Road

Album: Sheryl Crow

Year: 1996

              Sheryl Crow takes life as it comes in the venturesome “Everyday Is A Winding Road.”

               A boisterous drum and a placid guitar open the single, setting a carefree tone.  By the side of the road, she sits with her knees to her chest and takes a puff from her cigarette.  She stamps out her cigarette and stands up, shaking off any grass on her shorts. She sticks out her thumb, the exhaust of a dozen speeding cars circling around her. Finally, a middle aged man in a SUV stops on the shoulder a couple feet from her. After introducing themselves, she tells him she’s headed to wherever he’s going. He explains he’s traveling to a job, fixing some vending machines at the community college. He tells her that the summer after he graduated and before he met his now-wife, he was quite reckless himself. It was a motorcycle accident that caused him to believe in pure reason. If it hadn’t been for the accident, he wouldn’t have gotten into baseball. It was at a baseball game where he met his wife. She makes sure to nod in the right places and say a “yeah, me too” every once in a while. Pure reason is a decent theory but in practice, it strikes her as rigid.  (“I hitched a ride with a vending machine repair man/He says he's been down this road more than twice/He was high on intellectualism/I've never been there but the brochure looks nice.”)

          In the pre-chorus, he is only one of the many characters she’s met. Some like him have a clear joy for life. Others philosophize, seemingly trying to save her and themselves in the hour. It’s all part of the fun. (“Jump in, let's go/Lay back, enjoy the show/Everybody gets high, everybody gets low/These are the days when anything goes.”)

             Each day brings something new. Otherwise, life can become stale and worn in one place.  She’s getting to the point where the restlessness is starting to ease inside her. (“Everyday is a winding road/I get a little bit closer/Everyday is a faded sign/I get a little bit closer to feeling fine.”)

           While filling up on gas, he shows her a picture of his daughter, Easter. In the photo, she’s on her scooter and waving to the camera. It occurs to her she has no one to miss her. Relationships required too much effort and attention. Friendships were long-distance and an occasional phone calls. She only spoke to her family when necessary. She realizes no one really knows her. (“He's got a daughter he calls Easter/She was born on a Tuesday night/I'm just wondering why I feel so all alone/Why I'm a stranger in my own life.”)

              The pre-chorus is sung again.

              A second chorus is sung. (“Everyday is a winding road.. everyday is a winding road/I get a little bit closer/Everyday is a faded sign/I get a little bit closer to feeling fine.”)

               In the bridge, she’s been rebelling against being a suburbanite her entire life.  Most of her days are spent in diners, chain smoking and drinking coffee while writing in her journal. However, with all the experiences she’s had they don’t reflect an actual life. It’s some brief scenes featuring her as the main character. (“I've been swimming in a sea of anarchy/I've been living on coffee and nicotine/I've been wondering if all the things I've seen/Were ever real, were ever really happening.”)

             The second chorus is sung again to close the single.  

            Crow’s blasé, unflappable vocals drift until the second verse when it gets reeled in by a cold realization. Her wandering lifestyle is rootless, devoid of any personal connection. When she’s gone, there will be no one to show photos of her. Her dismissive attitude towards his ideas on life now seems condescending and immature in retrospect.

               The lax “Everyday Is A Winding Road” is hit with the reality it’s been trying to avoid.