Music Review // Ian North "Going North for Good"

 

I enjoy right away that "Going North for Good" can mean that you're going there for "good" in a sense that you're going there to stay (which the song does have lyrics about) or it can mean that you're going there for "good" in the sense of making your life better (which the song also seems to be about).    While this song sings about Canada right away, it also sings about ducking down when driving by cops so I feel like there is an illegal element to it that I don't understand but kind of think of as sneaking from Mexico into the United States (or even the US into Canada)

But this song isn't as much about the act of driving in the car and the nine hours it takes, but rather the meaning behind it.  "Going North for Good" is very much a song about packing up your family and starting over somewhere new with the hopes of it being better.  This is the type of thinking that many people (especially with families) seem to have and when in the United States it's like going from the East Coast to California.

While this does describe places on a map though, this song isn't about that as much as it is about just going from one place to the next to try and make a better life for yourself and your family.  I think a lot of that is tied to your emotions- your mindset- because you feel like whatever is happening to make where you live seem not so great won't be happening there.  And, to an extent that can certainly be true, but there are also other factors which you can take with you wherever you go.

Lana Del Rey has a lyric I really enjoy that says: "So I moved to California‚ but it's just a state of mind / It  turns out everywhere you go‚ you take yourself‚ that's not a lie" and I feel like that idea is explored within this song by Ian North.  You do have that state of mind of being some place new and just starting fresh, but you're also still taking yourself with you so your problems will still be there.   Either way, "Going North for Good" is a great song about that desire to start over but it doesn't really say that doing so makes things better and I appreciate that honesty.