Lucinda Williams has previously released three albums with the word ‘world’ in the title. The first was her 1992 classic ‘Sweet Old World’ where the title song was a poignant tribute to a friend who died by suicide, lamenting his loss and singing of all the beauty they’d left behind. She re-recorded that album in 2017, calling it ‘This Sweet Old World’ as though she was trying to bring back to life the innocent optimism she’d once had. Then there was ‘World Without Tears’ her 2003 album, that seemed to arrive at a kind of weary acceptance of the reality of life’s pain and suffering.
Her new album ‘World’s Gone Wrong’ has more of the latter’s tone, and yet that positivity of ‘Sweet Old World’ still simmers just below the surface. What this album also brings is a continued fiery spirit that started with her ‘Good Souls Better Angels’ album and suggests she’s become more of an activist, more confident in her politics, more outward looking in her music the older she gets.
The opening title track takes us to small town America, inside the hearts and heads of a couple struggling to get by. Everyone knows the worlds’ gone wrong, Lucinda sings with her voice like a spark of light shining on the gravel road. The backing vocals by Brittany Spencer make this feel like a call to arms, a reminder to search for comfort in a song, to dance, to seek solace in something, anything. After such a time in America’s history as these past few weeks, never has a song felt so necessary, so perfectly timed.
From there we go straight into the ‘Something’s Gotta Give’ which tells the same story of division and heaviness in the world, this time with a sharp repeated guitar riff underlining the tension. She invokes nature too, with references to earthquakes, rain and levees breaking.
So where do we go when things are falling apart? How about the old dive bar, where you can live your ‘Low Life’ and dance to the old jukebox without a care in the world. Despite her stroke (or even because of it?) Lucinda’s voice perfectly evokes every sound and smell of such a place, so you feel like you’re at the bar stool with her.
The gritty musical tone continues on the fiercely defiant ‘How Much Did You Get For Your Soul?’ This one is directed to those who’ve sold out, those who’ve taken the money and not thought about the consequences. The only cover on the album is Bob Marley’s ‘So Much Trouble in the World’ which features sister in arms Mavis Staples. Together the two elder stateswomen of American music remind us of the answer to the woes we face: ‘all you gotta do is give a little’.
The second half of the album begins with a song inspired by the novel ‘Sing Unburied Sing’, which is an eerie Southern gothic ghost story richly brought to life in this bluesy epic. ‘Black Tears’ has a swampy, muddy tone which takes us through the haunted South and acknowledges the darkness of America’s racist past.
On ‘Punchline’ she wrestles with her faith and how to believe in a greater good, when the ‘world is broken’. She searches for god, for any sign of relief, finding no answers.
Those listeners who hang on through the darkness to the end will find two songs that offer us that ‘comfort in a song’ she was searching for at the beginning. On ‘Freedom Speaks’ she rallies against apathy, taking on the voice of freedom itself who reminds us to stand up and fight.
The only solo written song on the album is the closer ‘We’ve Come Too Far to Turn Around’ which is a dark, haunting ballad with Norah Jones on piano and backing vocals. Here she faces the devil head on, tries to bring that ‘sweet old world’ of hope back to life.
‘World’s Gone Wrong’ shows that despite being seventy three years old, post-stroke, no longer able to play guitar, Lucinda’s still out here using her voice with every last breath, still with something powerful to say. You’ll find shared pain in these songs for sure, but much comfort and inspiration. A timely reminder to be grateful for the legends who still walk amongst us.
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