Best Song Ever: Poison Oak - Bright Eyes

Conor Oberst leads a singalong at the Fillmore in 2013

"The sound of loneliness makes me happier"

NOTE: I started posting my Best Song Ever on Facebook to share with friends initially. They haven’t been shared before on my blog or substack, so I will be sharing some previous songs with updated content. This is one of them.

Sometimes you find out a song that you love and want to sing along too is the same as seemingly everyone else at the show. And then you have that awesome community, connection moment that concert dreams are made of. Thats what happened when Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes played Poison Oak at the Fillmore in 2013. Fortunately, someone filmed that experience and you can check it out below. Its awesome and intense and beautiful and just so so great.

This came during my favorite Conor show of all time. The setlist included'¹ some of his darkest and most depressing work. Conor didn't seem to be in a great headspace. It was such a dark show that some of my party left early, it was too much for them to take. I relished in the darkness. Conor was dealing with something and he was letting us witness it while he went through the darkest, saddest songs in his catalog (and if you don't know much about Bright Eyes or Conor, there are a lot of sad, dark songs, so his his darkest and saddest are off the charts).

You can hear the crowd starting to sing a long early in the song. You can feel Conor settle into the darkness of the song and feed off the energy of the crowd.

As the first strums come out, the crowd cheers.

As Conor starts us off. There are only few light voices singing along under their breath.

“Poison oak. Some boyhood bravery. When a telephone was a tin can on a string. I. Fell asleep. With you still talking to me. You said you weren’t afraid to die.”

By about 1:20 into the video both Conor and the crowd can tell this is going to be one of those awesome moments. Can you feel the anticipation in the crowd? Conor can.I can. We all can.

By the 2:00 mark you can feel the intensity in Conor. So much so that the person videoing decided to focus in on that intensity.

“In polaroids, you were dressed in women's clothes. Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer? Well, I don't think that I ever loved you more. Than when you turned away, when you slammed the door. When you stole a car and drove towards Mexico. And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm. I was young enough, I still believed in war.”

This person he is singing about is totally fallen apart. They are full of shame. They are making a series of bad choices. They are letting the people around them down. And yet, it’s when Conor loved this person the most. But, he also believed in lots of things he no longer believes in.

At 2:12 a woman screams out, "I still believed in war!" right before and as Conor is singing it. I don't know what that line means to her, but I love that she felt so much that she had to scream it out. It think it added to the moment. But wait, theres more.

When this song was written (it was released in 2005, likely written in 2004) the Iraq War loomed heavily over everywhere. Artists were referencing war constantly. And Conor was no exception as a vocal peace activist. Here’s he’s pointing out that this happened early in his life when he was still influenced by his parent’s conservative values.

By 2:40, we're all in on it. Everyone is singing along at least a little at this point. We know it's almost here and we're going to scream loudly some meaningful words. At 2:50 conor is so into it he takes his hands off the guitar to gesture with his hands. He knows it’ s coming too.

2:57. Yep. I know. It's awesome.

“But me, I'm a single cell, on a serpent's tongue. There's a muddy field where a garden was. And I'm glad you got away, but I'm still stuck out here. My clothes are soaking wet from your brother's tears”

Lots going on here. So, its worth noting that a snake senses everything with its tongue. Thats why they are always slithering their tongues. I love how he uses that knowledge to state that he senses and feels so much. The rest of the words are so specific that they can mean anything, everything, and nothing based on your personal life experience. But, it’s clear whats going on in the audience that people really feel these lyrics.

I love how at 3:19 how he strums and backs away. And don’t miss him rocking out with the accordion dude at 3:25. Look at the emotion in that moment. 3:37-3:40 capture a great emotional singalong moment as the music fades away for a moment.

“And I never thought this life was possible. You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for.”

I’ve always thought that the yellow bird he’s referring to here is the Canary in the Coal mine. Conor makes reference to a yellow bird in another song on the same album.

Later at 4:00 if you don't look/listen you might miss it. Conor gets too into it and screams "statuette" and has to pull himself back.

Then finally

“The end of paralysis, I was a statuette. Now I'm drunk as hell on a piano bench. And when I press the keys it all gets reversed. The sound of loneliness makes me happier.”

I mean, just feel that. Feel that.

Do check it out.

1. I just noticed that he opened with Common Knowledge, a super dark song that has become a favorite of mine, though this was quite a bit before it was released and the only time I’ve heard it live.