Music Review // Chris Bullinger "Payin' Dues"

Chris Bullinger has returned with the song "Payin' Dues", which is something I think we all know about.  With that gravelly, Tom Waits type of voice, this song is slower paced but it feels like every note and every word hits exactly where it's supposed to land.   With these sweet guitars there are elements of the blues and even the sax comes in to confirm that sound.

One line in this song that I like is: "I keep wishin' I was in your place" because if you're paying dues you're obviously trying to better yourself somehow.  In music, I think of it as being an opening act, as one example, and then the place where he might want to be is as the headliner.  But the funny thing is that this line then follows up with a rhyme about kissing your face, which makes it feel like it's literally about being at your apartment with you.

In life, it can just feel like everything you do is paying dues, from the day you're born and are off to school, and that comes with the line: "Treat me like I'm winning in a human race".   This is a nice play on words in the human race and it's funny how we all have to do so much as humans just to stay alive, just to survive.  Sometimes it feels like we're paying dues just to see another day.

At one point this song has a breakdown where it feels like we're in the circus but then later on, at the end, it all just drops off into chaos and destruction.  Though there is a fun moving rhythm to this song, with lyrics to make you think, it's really these little details you might notice the first time that should draw you into listening to this song over and over.