“Lover, Don’t Leave Me” – Bocce
Speaking of drumming: while you won’t, precisely, hear rock’n’roll’s seminal “Be My Baby” beat here on “Lover, Don’t Leave Me,” that bedrock rhythm is feinted at near the song’s beginning (0:18-0:26). (Listen for the first three signature bass-drum hits; while we never get the climactic fourth wallop you almost can’t help filling it in yourself in your head). The beat underlies the rest of the song even if it’s never spelled out, and goes a long way towards lending a swoony late-’50s/early-’60s vibe to the darkly charming “Lover, Don’t Leave Me.”
The song’s opening moments set the tone, with a whistly synthesizer (or maybe just a whistle?) describing a melody ever so slightly askew; if there’s something of a looney-bin vibe to it I don’t think that’s accidental. Nine seconds in, we go directly to the chorus, which sums matters up in one succinct, repeated couplet: “Lover, don’t leave me/Lovin’ ain’t easy”–the eternal push-pull of a passionate relationship. Singer Sarah Shotwell leans into the part with her honeyed, unhurried phrasing, which includes some muted melismas on the two contracted verbs (don’t/ain’t), adding a delicate achiness that reinforces the song’s echo of early rock’n’roll.
While the lyrics proceed to allude to physical torture, I’m reading them as metaphorical, mirroring the emotional torture baked into the experience of love in all its connective messiness. We even of all things get a quote, in Italian, from Niccolo Machiavelli (2:58) to wrap matters up, which, translated, means, “The insults must be done all at once”; Shotwell adds a bittersweet “caro” (“my dear”) to the sentiment.
And just when you think you’ve heard everything the song has to offer, along comes a background chorus of men’s voices singing, if I’m hearing this right, “Ba ba-ba-ba/Ba ba” (3:43). It’s a goofball touch at just the right moment, shepherding the proceedings to a gratifying conclusion.
Bocce is the trio of Shotwell, David Provenzano, and Christopher Keene. Shotwell and Provenzano worked together previously in the band Fialta. “Lover, Don’t Leave Me” is a track from Bocce’s debut album, Good For You, released earlier this month. MP3 via the band.
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