The guitars that open “Singer Songwriter” are a bit misleading—their jangly notes suggest the subsequent tale will be, in keeping with a prevalent country-music theme, one of loss. But this Okkervil River track is actually laden with excess, about one family’s success in the face of overwhelmingly favorable odds. There’s still a lesson woven into the detached observations of the real singer-songwriter, Will Sheff: Unlike money, talent isn’t passed on through generations.
That’s a notion that the subject seems blithely unaware of on this track from 2008’s The Stand Ins, though. The first verse outlines this individual’s lineage—a “great lawyer” for a great-grandfather who spawned a war profiteer. But the aspiring auteur’s parents took a slightly different path in life, while presumably still benefitting from those connections, to become a photographer-cum-director and publicist. The couple then established a kind of cultural dynasty, with an acclaimed author for a daughter and a band manager for a son.
And whether it’s due to being the youngest or just bereft of talent, the third child can’t seem to find a toehold in any particular industry or field of study, having shot a “reversal film in Angkor Wat,” and dabbled in theology. This dilettante hasn’t inherited an aptitude for anything, just a name and money: “You got wealth, you come from wealth / What a bitch they didn’t give you much else.” They have all the trappings of success, but it’s likely been purchased on someone else’s dime than obtained through their own scattered efforts.
