Artist:   Rodney Crowell
Song:   "Closer to Heaven"
Album: Sex And Gasoline
Label:   Yep Roc
Year:    2008

Rodney Crowell has been a lot of things to a lot of people, but he's always done it with an ability to reach deep and touch listeners with a surgeon's skill. He knows where the soul lives, and for forty years since he first started writing songs and playing in bands has continued on the quest to find it. His new album, Sex And Gasoline, could well be the best album he's ever made. It definitely has the most on its mind, and Crowell sounds like with producer Joe Henry at the helm he decided to let it fly. It closes with "Closer to Heaven," an honest look at the man he is and what he's learned. It's more of a spoken-word inventory than a song, really, with a chorus that sends chills straight through the heart and reminds us what real really means.

I don't like humus
I hate long lines
Nosy neighbors
And Venetian blinds
Chirping news anchors
Alter my mood
I'm offended by buzzwords
Like "awesome" and "dude"

I look like a train wreck
I feel like a blob
‘Til you get to know me
You may think I'm a snob
But I'm closer to heaven
Than I've ever been

I don't eat sushi
I don't smoke grass
I don't wear pajamas
I don't drive fast
I hate idle gossip
And tasseled shoes
Slick politicians
They give me the blues

I don't ride in limos
I don't play golf
I don't own a rifle
That would blow your head off
But I'm closer to heaven
Than I've ever been

There's more, of course, but by the end Rodney Crowell has shown us the face in the mirror can be our friend, once we figure out just who that is.