Music Review: Norah Jones "Nightingale"

Norah Jones

Nightingale

Album: Come Away With Me

Year: 2003

         Norah Jones contemplates a major life decision in the  brooding  “Nightingale.”

        A placid guitar opens the single, setting a centered tone. Jones begins with the chorus. She sits on the patio chair , legs crossed and her elbow propped up on the table. The trill of the nightingale catches her attention and she looks around for it. She wonders if the bird is singing about an older couple it saw or the devastasted areas it flew over. (“Nightingale, sing us a song/Of a love that once belonged/Nightingale, tell me your tale/Was your journey far too long?”)

               She thinks of her future as her father and brother take down the “congratulations grad” banner hanging in the backyard. She can look for a job now and return back to school for her Master’s. She can skip it entirely and travel some, take a break.  Either choice has its own consequences. She isn’t sure which one is right for her just yet. (“Does it seem like I'm looking for an answer/To a question I can't ask?/I don't know which way the feather falls/If I should blow it to the left.”)

            The chorus is sung again.

            In the bridge, people are offering their own unsolicited advice: “look for a job now, it’ll be harder later!” or “A Master’s will help you get a salary bump!” Every conversation with someone leads to her future. She sees the bird and would like to follow it to it’s next destination, far away from the questions. (“All the voices that are spinnin' around me/Trying to tell me what to say/Can I fly right behind you?/And you can take me away.”)

         The placid guitar is joined by some soft cymbals and a serious  piano

       A variation of the bridge ends the single. (“All the voices that are spinnin' around me/Trying to tell me what to say/So can I fly right behind you?/And you can take me away, you can take me away.”)

         Jones’ pensive vocals chip away its shell, trying to break it in tiny pieces. She has been the studious one all her life. She made excellent grades in school. But now, she would like to experience life a bit more.

        The wishful  “Nightingale” is beginning to think with its heart and not its head.