The
Lowest of the Low has been my favorite
band since I first heard them on 102.1 The
Edge (
Toronto) in 1994, when I was a
freshman in
high school. I had plans to see them in
Buffalo, but they (tragically) broke up a mere two weeks before the show. However, Ron Hawkins, the amazing lead
singer, still plays solo
acoustic shows here in the
Buff, so I've had my chance to
experience his beautifully
seductive voice first-hand a
couple times. The song he wrote that most inspires me is "
Rosy and
Grey." It's about a man who just got out of the
army, and comes back to Toronto. His
relationship with his
girlfriend is uncertain, but he has been with her "for more than eight
years," filled with "
laughter . . . and tears." He doesn't seem to mind if they break up (he will of course be heartbroken]), but he considers the time he did spend with her so life-altering that even that little bit will suffice for a
lifetime of
satisfaction. Progress is another theme of the song "they're puttin' down
roads / and they're brokering
stocks," which fits with the
idea that he can
handle not being with her; it is all for the sake of progress. As we can tell from his other songs ("A Letter from
Bilbao," e.g.), he is a very well-traveled man, which he reiterates in this
song with quite possibly the
single most passionately
erotic verse ever written:
Well I've
kissed you in
France and I've
kissed you in
Spain
I've I've seen the sun go down on Sacre Coeur
But I like it much better going down on you
The
song is almost naively
hopeful, but that makes it all the better. Ron can
write like few others can, I honestly wish his new band, The Rusty Nails, would disband so he could return to his
solo career.