COURTNEY BARNETT TAKES TIME

 

Courtney Barnett waves from Rae Street

We just pulled off Interstate 80 in Elkhart, Indiana, when Courtney Barnett’s Avant Gardener came on a college radio station. It was different. She had a command of words, yet her approach felt almost whimsical at times which is weird, to say the least, as the song was an autobiographical story about nearly dying because “she’s not that good at breathing in.” It was just our first impression, but my wife and I were blown away. But in all honesty, how could anyone not be impressed by Courtney Melba Barnett. One could easily argue that she is the best singer-songwriter of her generation. On her EP, you hear songs like Avant Gardener, History Eraser, and Anonymous Club. On her first album, you listen to songs like Elevator Operator, Pedestrian at Best, Depreston, and Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party. On her follow-up, you hear Need a Little Time and Nameless, Faceless. So with an EP and two studio albums out and such a prolific track record, it would seem that she needs to make a statement on her third album, and thus far, she has done just that.

On July 7, 2021, Courtney Barnett premiered Rae Street, the first single from her third studio album, Things Take Time, Take Time. The album Things Take Time, Take Time is now available for pre-order and will ship around November 12, 2021. Rae Street depicts Courtney observing the outside world from the vantage point of her window, and of course, because it is Courtney Barnett, this somewhat mundane activity is made interesting because all the people she observes are herself, which could not be more appropriate for what is considered usual. Since March 2020, we’ve learned to cope with the loneliness of the pandemic. We’ve done so by projecting ourselves onto the world for others’ safety. We imagine parents as our own, children like ourselves, and gig workers as us hustling, and on Rae St., Courtney does all these things.

 

The music video opens with a wide shot with Courtney Barnett as a neighbor mowing the lawn. It then cuts to her sitting on her living room floor playing the guitar. She then moves to look out over her neighborhood from her windows. She plays guitar from the floor and sings an opening line familiar to that in Avant Gardener.

In the morning, I’m slow

I drag a chair over to the window.

As Courtney looks from her window over the neighborhood, Courtney takes her garbage out and looks up at Courtney in the window. She waves from the road, and Courtney from the window waves back with a slight smile as Courtney, the relationship partner of Courtney, takes out the trash. Relationship partner Courtney smiles at Courtney before looking up at Courtney in the window to wonder what’s going on.

As I watch what’s going on

The garbage truck tiptoes along the road.

In the next scene, Courtney, the mom in a jean outfit, lights a candle as her kids run by. Then Courtney, the neighbor doing yard work, leans down to the wet cement to discover someone has etched the words Rae Street. After smoothing over the cement, she looks back to Courtney in the window, waving at her. However, she does not wave back. Finally, Courtney, who plays guitar in the living room, is seen singing on a poster before it is ripped down by Courtney, who works in her yard.

Light a candle for the sufferin’

Send my best wishes with the wind

All our candles, hopes, and prayers

Though well-meanin’ they don’t mean a thing

Unless we see some change

I might change my sheets today.

In the first chorus, Courtney playing guitar in her living room can be her singing.

Well, time is money

And money is no man’s friend

And all eyes on the pavement

I’m not gonna touch up

Don’t worry so much about it.

Courtney from the window then observes Courtney, the parent teaching her child how to ride a bike as the child takes off. Courtney, the parent, tries to get her cellphone out of her pocket to record, but the child starts wobbling from side to side and falls off in the grass as Courtney, the dog walker, walks past. The parent runs to the aid of her child.

The day begins to shine

The parent teaches the child how to ride

The bike

Walkers side to side

Two dogs entangle, everybody smiles.

Courtney’s attention turns back towards the couple who took out the trash earlier. As the one standing on a ladder painting brick, the other stares at her phone.

The pair across the street

One’s up the ladder

And one’s on their knees

Painting the faded brick

What’s the point?

It looks fine from up here.

Courtney once again sings the chorus from the living room floor. Then a shot is held on a tree and power lines as day turns to night.

Well, time is money

And money is no man’s friend

And all eyes on the pavement

I’m not gonna touch up

Don’t worry so much about it

I’m just waiting for the day to become night.

As Courtney gazes over the next-door neighbor’s children fighting over a bike, the mom then comes out to yell at them before they exchange an awkward wave before the mom returns indoors. The children who have Courtney-style haircuts remain to stare back at her.

Next door, the kids run amok

The mother screams, “Don’t you ever shut up?”

And there’s one thing I know

The sun will rise today and tomorrow

We’ve got a long, long way to go.

As the chorus returns, it is now being sung by a delivery person to Courtney, from the living room, who looks disinterested. The scene closes with Courtney, the delivery driver looking at a Courtney Barnett music video before returning to the establishing shot of a tree and power lines as night turns back to the day.

Well, time is money

And money is no man’s friend

And all eyes on the pavement

I’m not gonna touch up

Don’t worry so much about it.

The last scenes depict all characters returning to the same routines as the day before. One of the couple members falls off the ladder, and Courtney, the news crew, arrives. As all this happens, the last verse is sung:

I’m just waiting for the day to become night

And I’ll shine those shoes

In all those worn splits

Get back to normal

Lay it all on the table

Ya seem so stable

But you’re just hangin’ on

Let go of that expectation

Change the station

And find out what you want.

As Rae Street does presume to know the solutions to problems, it acknowledges the days that we all go through, if only by empathizing with others’ everyday experiences. Though I can not say why Courtney Barnett wrote Rae Street for sure, I see it as a welcoming gift from a great singer-songwriter to help provide context so that we don’t have to live in our heads alone.