Throwing Good After Bad

Album: In These Silent Days (2021)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The closing track from Brandi Carlile's In These Silent Days album is the first song she wrote after finishing her memoir, Broken Horses. "That song's about grief, acceptance, and love as an action instead of a feeling," she told Stereogum. "It's about loving someone that has something so good and seeing them throw it away, throw it after something so bad. It's just an ongoing theme in my life to live inside of and accept rejection. And so that was the first song I wrote after I finished the book. I went straight to it."
  • Expanding on the theme of rejection, Carlile said she was thinking about family dynamics and what it means to be a Carlile. "It's family stuff. It's about feeling different," she said. "I'm a person with a lot of familial pride. It's important to me, what it means to be a Carlile. A lot of that I think is just generational and sort of paternal. The older I've gotten, I've realized that it doesn't mean to be a Carlile what I thought it meant to be a Carlile. Is family even real, or is it a construct?"
  • Carlile wasn't sure what to make of the song when she finished it. "Is this song really weird?" she asked her wife, Catherine Shepherd, who told her to sit with it for a few days before making any decisions. Instead, she sent it to Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, who gave it the seal of approval.
  • Carlile re-released the album in September 2022 with a bonus disc titled In The Canyon Haze that contained acoustic versions of all 10 tracks. Following "Throwing Good After Bad," she included a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jack Tempchin - "Peaceful Easy Feeling"

Jack Tempchin - "Peaceful Easy Feeling"They're Playing My Song

When a waitress wouldn't take him home, Jack wrote what would become one of the Eagles most enduring hits.

Annie Haslam of Renaissance

Annie Haslam of RenaissanceSongwriter Interviews

The 5-octave voice of the classical rock band Renaissance, Annie is big on creative expression. In this talk, she covers Roy Wood, the history of the band, and where all the money went in the '70s.

Bryan Adams

Bryan AdamsSongwriter Interviews

What's the deal with "Summer of '69"? Bryan explains what the song is really about, and shares more of his songwriting insights.

Francis Rossi of Status Quo

Francis Rossi of Status QuoSongwriter Interviews

Doubt led to drive for Francis, who still isn't sure why one of Status Quo's biggest hits is so beloved.

Billy Steinberg - "Like A Virgin"

Billy Steinberg - "Like A Virgin"They're Playing My Song

The first of Billy's five #1 hits was the song that propelled Madonna to stardom. You'd think that would get you a backstage pass, wouldn't you?

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?