Since her debut in 2014, Adrianne Lenker has quickly risen to considered the best modern songwriter by many, including myself. Her authentic and soft way of writing and composing has touched the hearts of millions across the world. In 2020, Lenker reached her peak popularity and praise with “songs + instrumentals”, an album crafted in a secluded cabin during the peak of the pandemic. The album is purely composed of Adrianne’s voice, acoustic guitars, and the sounds of nature and the cabin’s front porch. Knowing this adds to the album’s personal and grounded nature. The album is truly perfect. There are no flaws and nothing that could be added or taken away to make it better. All 11 songs are immensely special to me, like they’re just for me despite the insane popularity of them all. Even with my love for every moment of this album, one song in particular stands out among the rest to me. Track 9, “not a lot, just forever” bears immense meaning and emotional importance to me. While the title of best folk song of all time is a difficult title to place, I believe this song deserves it more than any other.

Sonic/Lyrical Analysis

Chorus

The chorus repeats after each verse, with lines 2 and 3 slightly varying.

Not a lot, just forever
Intertwined (sewn/some) together
(Like the rock bears the weather)/(As the wren sheds her feather)
Not a lot, just forever

Both versions of line 3 contrast with the other lines. While Lenker wishes for a forever with her partner, their intertwining will not last forever, just like a rock weathering under a waterfall of love or a wren shedding feathers as she soars across the sky. The friction of two partners sewn together in a poisonous marriage will cause damage over time, just like the friction between a wren’s feathers or the friction between nature and a rock.

Verse 1

Through your eyes I see
A smile you bring to me
To your joy I tether

Adrianne addresses the lyrical focus of the song, her partner. She can both literally see her smile through her partner’s eyes and she can see how her partner knows the joy they bring to her. She is tethered to her partner’s joy meaning she is reliant on her partner’s joy before she can have joy too.

Verse 2

From this verse on, all verses follow an AABCCB rhyme scheme, adding to the hypnotic nature of the glistening acoustic guitar lines.

My dog barks wildly
To protect my infancy
From my ex-believer
And I try to calm the wolf
To remind her I am both
Still she tears at my sweater

Adrianne’s dog, Oso, represents the voice in the back of her head yelling, trying to protect her pure self from the danger of an ex-lover. Lenker tries to subdue the voice by telling Oso she is her own ex-lover and pure self. Even after admitting this, Oso still tries to protect Adrianne.

Verse 3

And your dearest fantasy
Is to grow a baby in me
I could be a good mother
And I wanna be your wife
So I hold you to my knife
And I steal your letter

Here we see Adrianne and her partner discussing raising a family together, ready to be intertwined forever. Even though it seems like this is a mutual understanding, Lenker makes certain of their marriage by holding her partner to a knife of emotional persuasion while she steals her partners last name.

Verse 4

So I bash around the house
And the poison stains my mouth
She comes, I let her
And we share a paradise
And I roll them once or twice
Can’t get much better

The poison of the relationship still doesn’t deter Lenker when her partner comes back to her life without any issue. The two decide to share a paradise/pair of dice together, taking one or two more tries to save their love. Adrianne ends the final verse still blinded by her infatuation, saying this unsteady relationship couldn’t get much better.

Conclusion

“not a lot, just forever” infatuation and fear of the unknown can hold two people together forever. In such a relationship you can never ask a lot of your partner, just for the comfort of loyalty. We see how this type of connection can exhaust a person like Adrianne Lenker clinging on to the failing love of their partner. This song is so honest to the listener while the character of the story is so dishonest to herself, showing how the excuses someone makes for their partner can keep them attached. The guitar performance and lyrics of this incredibly personal song create a soundscape only Adrianne Lenker could create and adds perfectly to the simplistic nature of the album and Adrianne’s catalouge.