About the Song

Track: Where Only the Graves Are Real

Length: 3:14

Album: Joe Hill’s Ashes (2010)

Artist: Otis Gibbs

Songwriters: Otis Gibbs

Favorite part:

“Where are my true friends, where did they go?

Goddamn, all my fake friends

The ones who cling to me like I’m a star

Everyone’s your best friend when you’re closing down the bars

But God bless the ones who really are”

℗ Otis Gibbs / © Wanamaker Recording Company

Here’s Why I Love It

I saw Todd Snider (also on Lyrics I Love) live a couple months back and Otis Gibbs was his opener. I had no clue who he was, but almost immediately I was drawn to him. So was my Dad. So was my brother. Gibbs sang with a hint of truth as his fingers danced around the neck of the guitar. And he paired those qualities with a gruff voice and grade A storytelling. Gibbs was just easy to like. Then he played this song … and it didn’t hit me. In fact, I thought it was a bit too on the nose. (It’s always a fine line between clarity and ambiguity.)

The next day, I was in my car and I listened to every song Gibbs played. I do this often after a concert (especially when I’m not familiar with the artist.) I like to hear the originals—some deter, some don’t. It’s a spectrum, but I enjoy either end (depending on the artist.) Anyway, when I listened to “Where Only the Graves Are Real” something happened inside me—my eyes started to water. It proved to me, intellectually speaking, that it doesn’t really matter what I think about the construction of a song’s lyrics. On the nose or not, what does it matter? If the song grabs me emotionally, then there’s nothing left to analyze, really. It got me. I am powerless.

This song is about friendship, fakery, lies, both to yourself and people around you, and a yearning people who know you best—people who truly love you. (See the chorus above.) Quite literally, I’ve walked in these shoes before, and maybe that’s why it hit me so hard. I guess when life starts to speed up and pass by, we begin to ask the hard(er) questions—the ones we conveniently avoided for so long. And that’s why no matter who you are, I think you’ll relate to this song. You might even enjoy it.

Read the Lyrics

Listen to the Song

*This article is part of the ongoing Lyrics I Love series: short interpretations of the meaning and story behind one song with lyrics that move me.