Making Pies

artist:Patty Griffin

, writer:Patty Griffin

Song Info

Title: Making Pies

Artist: Patty Griffin

Writer: Patty Griffin

Song Types: Folk

Key: Am

Info: Patricia Jean "Patty" Griffin (born March 16, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter and musician.[1] She is an accomplished vocalist and plays guitar and piano. She is known for her stripped-down songwriting style in the folk music genre. Her songs have been covered by numerous musicians, including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, Rory Block, Dave Hause, and the Dixie Chicks.

In 2007, Griffin received the Artist of the Year award from the Americana Music Association, and her album Children Running Through won the award for Best Album.

In 2011, Griffin's album Downtown Church won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album.

Her third album, Silver Bell, has a sound similar to its predecessor. It was released by A&M in 2013, 13 years after it was recorded (and well after bootlegged copies had been circulated). A&M dropped Griffin's contract after Silver Bell was recorded, and she was then signed by Dave Matthews's ATO Records. Griffin re-recorded songs from that album for later releases, such as "Making Pies", "Mother of God," "Standing," and "Top of the World"

On June 13, 2008, Griffin performed an acoustic-in-the-round set in Nashville with Kris Kristofferson and Randy Owen (Alabama), for a taping of a PBS songwriters series aired in December 2008. Each of them played five songs; Griffin performed "Making Pies," "No Bad News," "Up to the Mountain," and "Mary."

Fome americansongwriter.com: It's a bit ironic that many casual fans know of Patty Griffin through the covers of her songs done by other, more mainstream artists. After all, her own singing voice is a thing of wonder, and her own interpretations of the songs she likes are usually the definitive ones.

Take, for example, "Making Pies" from her excellent 2002 album, 1000 Kisses. Music critics like to haphazardly throw the word "haunting" around in reviews, even when the music they're describing doesn't warrant it. This song is haunting in the best sense, in that the story contained in it and the emotions it so effortlessly conveys stay with you long after its final notes have been played.

At the time of 1000 Kisses, Griffin wasn't the known entity she would become, and, as a result, had to make the record on the cheap. As she explained to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette around the album's release, the spare sound she and her band developed was as much a product of necessity as it was inspiration. "We wanted to do something really simple and I paid for it myself, so we kept drums off it," she said. "I didn't feel like I had the expertise or the time or the money to really do anything bigger than what we did."

As it turns out, the gentle accompaniment only serves to highlight the beauty of this song, allowing Griffin's lovely voice to flesh out the forlorn melody and heartfelt lyrics. "Making Pies" is kind of like "Eleanor Rigby" if Eleanor were the one telling the story. The lonely protagonist doesn't spell out every detail, but you can read between the lines to see where how her life has come to be this way.

Notice how it's her nephew's birthday party that she describes; she clearly has no children of her own to celebrate. Her part-time job at the church is more a time-wasting exercise than a vocation, and Jesus' presence "way up there on the wall"  doesn't even distract her much from her baking duties.

As the song presses on, it becomes evident why this woman is all alone: Her "sweetheart" was a soldier who died in battle. It doesn't even matter which war, because the loss felt by those left behind is always the same. When she describes the photo of the two of them taken before the war, she doesn't use the word "me," rather the "Italian girl," as if it were an entirely different person.

All of this leads to the crucial final verse, when Griffin lends her protagonist the resilience that makes her more than just a spinster to be pitied. "You could cry or die/Or just make pies all day," she sings. Her choice tells it all: "I'm making pies."

Suddenly, making pies becomes an act of seemingly limitless courage. Characters like the one in this song are often overlooked by songwriters telling the usual tales of young love. In "Making Pies," Patty Griffin shows how the most seemingly inconspicuous individuals often have the most haunting tales to tell.

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Making Pies

artist:Patty Griffin

, writer:Patty Griffin

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