Song: “Don’t Let It Get Your Down”

Artist: Johnnyswim

Album: Heart Beats

Year:  2013

On Johnnyswim’s “Don’t Let It Get You Down,” it is very rare to hear one member of the folk duo singing by him or herself. Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez capture the spirit and nail the mechanics of vocal harmony so perfectly that it’s hard to believe they don’t share some mind or consciousness. Before things get too abstract, I’m just going to agree with what the writer, Nick Hornby, said in Songbook. “I’m not sure,” he writes, “[that] there are words to describe what happens when two voices mesh.” Even when they’re trading individual lines, Sudano and Ramirez manage to mesh incredibly well.

On the one hand, you could argue that such a sound is simply the work of an expert producer. While I don’t deny that as a possibility, I also like to believe in things. Plus, I just watched a video of their NPR Tiny Desk concert — and it was just as close to perfect as the track I’m listening to on Spotify right now. So, I’m going to stick with the idea that they’ve got something special going, and I’m in awe of it. All of that aside, “Don’t Let It Get You Down” has a really great groove to it. Who in this world can resist the power of handclap percussion? Not me.

As I listened to the song more closely, I realized that lyrically it had a lot of themes that were relatable to my personal life. From the beginning, there is a song about standing your ground: “Hold your course, here comes the cavalry / Don’t let it get you, don’t let it get you down.” Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how important it is to stick to my guns, and not just in an argument — where I feel like that phrase is most often used — but all the time. It is difficult letting myself do what I want when there are a thousand different obligations and fears in every decision. What will this person and that person think if I say this, and what would this other person do in this situation? It’s a lot.

Doing your own thing is obviously a lot easier said than done, and I’m floundering at it on a regular basis. I’m so used to changing the wording in a given text or email a hundred times before I send it or wondering whether I should even send it at all. But, in my best moments, I just go for it. I’ve found it worth giving it a shot for the moments of clarity I get — the ones where I know that I’m being about as “me” as I can be, and not hiding anything. During the bridge, Sudano and Ramirez sing these lines solo for just a moment: “Oh, this could be the part of you that you ain’t never seen before / Oh, this could be the part, the part of you, you want to be.” That part of me is the best part, and it’s the me I’m trying to be — despite all the doubt in my head.

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