Rhett Miller – “Big Brown Eyes” (Live from the House of Blues)

I shot Rhett Miller from the Old 97’s playing a few songs before his show on October 10th at the House of Blues in Dallas. The amiable front man was nearly too energetic for my camera frame, despite the fact that he was playing to an audience of one. Read Rhett’s 5 records that inspired him here

1. Rhett Miller is probably best known for three things — his boyish charm, his seemingly boundless energy onstage, and the ability to pack a song full of wit and heartbreak. That is never more apparent in his entire catalog than in “Big Brown Eyes”, a song so good that the Old 97’s recorded it twice on 1996’s Wreck Your Life and 1997’s Too Far To Care (which was covered in an earlier post). “Big Brown Eyes” is one of those rare occasions where a song is packed to the bursting point with metaphor and it actually works.

2. Miller starts by perfectly describing a situation of impending doom, as he tries to sell a potential lover on the fact that it is time to get out of town. From the “cherry” burning the edge of the paper, to quoting “Robert’s dad”, the intricate details make this whole thing human – as if you can see Rhett pleading with her to leave with him. After the apparent failure of that option, Miller turns inward to his “box of reds, and a pill or three”, eyes darting around the room to describe the depth of his loneliness. His self-aggrandizing continues, declaring that she “don’t want [him] anymore”, and asking himself “what did I expect?”

3. Rhett Miller does a killer job of inhabiting this song — every time it hits the chorus, you can easily envision him staring at the phone, waiting on it to ring. The now-classic line “you’ve made a big impression for a girl of your size” sums up everything he does best in a single line. Luckily for him, this song was just the beginning. He stated in an interview once that you have to write 100 bad songs before you get to the good stuff, and the evidence of his work ethic shows up even in this early material. Luckily for 97s fans, this trend of great songs has created a career for Miller and friends, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Rhett Miller – “Big Brown Eyes” (Live from the House of Blues)

Posted: November 16th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

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