Music Review // Buddy Guy & Switchfoot "Last Man Standing"

 

Make no mistake about this: "Last Man Standing" is a Buddy Guy song.  This is not at all a slight towards Switchfoot in any way, but if I didn't know that they were on this song you couldn't really tell.  This is a powerful, distorted blues anthem about survival and Buddy Guy has earned every second of it.  Perhaps some of the people who know Switchfoot for their radio singles will become aware of Buddy Guy through this song, as he is an absolute legend.

Right away this song starts off with the lyrics: "My heart's taken a beating / But there's still a drum inside beating".  I truly believe that when you have that music inside you, it doesn't go away and moreso than just that the idea is also that if you have the energy in your body, so as long as your lungs are breathing you should keep living and make the most of your every day.

Buddy Guy, who was born in 1936 is currently 88 years old.  I want that to really sink in as you listen to this song.  But it especially feels important when you hear lyrics such as: "I've seen a wicked man rise up / I've watched a good man die".  This could not only be something that we can relate with in the year 2025, but it's more of a matter of how many times can you say the same over the last 88 years?  I'm not going to go and count, but it happens way too much.

Perhaps my favorite song of "Last Man Standing" is that it feels like a pure triumph for those of us who are aging in a society where something like aging is not always put into the spotlight.  If you were alive for Woodstock, this might be good song for you to listen to and relate with.  But what's even bigger than that is you could be a twenty-something year old and still relate with this song just because of its underlying ideals of grabbing life by the horns and not letting go until you stop breathing.