Of all the songs on Jason Isbell’s breakout 2013 album Southeastern, it’s Relatively Easy that holds up best.
“You should know, compared to people on a global scale, our kind has had it relatively easy.” But people are still unsettled. A brother is on a church kick, “just another form of dope sick.” A man’s wife takes his kids away and he takes Klonopin, “enough to kill a man of twice his size.” The narrator tore up his loft and is now on parole, alone.
Everyone wants more, and prosperity doesn’t change it. We all think it was better back then, that it’s all terrible and about to get worse.
It isn’t. The past wasn’t good. We live longer than ever if we’re not getting ourselves shot, overdosing on drugs, or refusing vaccines. Middle class Americans are richer than anyone in the history of the world, thanks to technology and the creativity economy. We have nothing to complain about.
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