iron & wine: the unreleased gems

sam beam (the mastermind behind iron & wine) is one of those masterful songwriting poets that are hard to come by these days, especially in the popular music domain. i often find myself wanting to compile all of his lyrics into one sweet, sweet book of poetry and keep it by my bedside as a sort of songwriting bible for the even-tempered. in fact, when i first discovered "passing afternoon" off of "our endless numbered days," i wrote the lyrics all over my biology notebook in highschool in various fonts and designs until they became indelibly ingrained. since then each new album i've discovered has become a temporary obsession, played on loop for weeks at a time until i finally move on to my next great love.

recently i came across a large collection of unreleased iron & wine songs, most of them simple four track demo recordings. each one is an absolute gem. one of my favorites is "in your own time." it opens with:

"in your own time you'll drink something evil,
sing like an old crow, worship the land.
don't be scared if i walk with the devil,
run down the mountain, ask for your hand."

like a lot of beam's acoustic stuff, this song has the wonderful repetitive mid-tempo feel that makes you want to move down south and take it easy, sit out on the porch with a slightly out of tune guitar and watch the sunset. he has absolutely mastered the art of setting up a scene with just a few chords and an opening verse. it's not at all surprising that he started out in film and cinematography.

among the other unreleased demos, if you ever find a way to get your hands on this stuff, i highly recommend:

beauty and family
judgment
your blue eyes
thousand miles
the wind is low
california
fistful of roses
cold town
our friends shine