best of 2022 • Kevin Morby • Bittersweet, TN (feat. Erin Rae)

“‘Bittersweet, TN’ is a love song dedicated to time,” explains Morby. “It is about the abundance and scarcity around it that I feel almost always – that there is either a daunting amount or not enough but regardless – time is always on my mind. I tell this love story to the backdrop of America, or rather a Bittersweet, Tennessee – which like time itself can be a very beautiful or very tragic thing, depending, and one may not exist without the other. I sing it with my great friend – the very talented Erin Rae who really helped bring this song to life. There is a moment towards the end of the song where we have a cheers ‘to time,’ and I am so honored to be having those cheers with Erin in some sonic landscape for the rest of time.”

Devoted my life to the passin' of time

Crossed over county to the Missouri line

And how does one sail on the waves of time?

Hey there sailor, can I hitch a ride?

There was a time when you were mine

Oh, there was a time when you were mine

There was a time when you were mine

Oh, there was a time

Well, have one on me, bittersweet

Tennessee

Bittersweet

Tennessee

Goddamn you got old, you got upset you got sick

The livin' took forever, but the dyin' went quick

And oh, just to think you were a little kid

Wonderin' what you'd be when you got big

And there was no time, suddenly

Oh, there was no time, suddenly

There was no time, suddenly

Oh, there was no time

Well, have one on me, bittersweet