Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts had been divorced for over a year by the time his sixth album, The Road to Ensenada, was released. As a devoted fan of great breakup albums (and someone who has occasionally needed them like a salve on a burn), I was primed to hear this masterful songwriter uncork his misery. After all, what is country music but the official anthem of tear-dappled beer? The genre is at his best when a partner has gone and done another wrong. Heartbreak certainly takes up residence on the album, although no more so than on any of Lovett’s other releases (once again, these are country music records we’re discussing here). That might be attributable to the the fact that the uncoupling was reportedly as gentle and amicable as they come. I think it’s probably more pertinent to note that at the point this record was released it had been a long time since Lovett had generated an album of all-new material. In the span between those records, he met, courted, married, and divorced a woman who went toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise for the designation of biggest movie star in the world. To the degree than an album is the autobiography of a songwriter, The Road to Ensenada tells that whole story.
I’m convinced Roberts is all over this record. It surely can’t be a coincidence that her unique middle name provides the title for the song “Fiona,” which tells of a woman with a crazy brother who “just might bite you.” I was invested enough in the gossipy side of the album’s release that cracking the code to discover precisely when Lovett’s was drawing on his own experience was one of the pleasures of listening. And no song felt more like a wistful, appreciative memoir than the hidden track at the end of the CD (the mid-nineties was the heyday of hidden tracks). “The Girl in the Corner” follows a man as he moves around a party, always trying to connect with the enthralling woman of the title. I’m so sure that the song is inspired by Lovett’s first encounter with Roberts that I feel like I can also identify some of the other partygoers name-checked in the song, such as tall Tim and smart Susan and Frances who “looked like a fine work of art.” Coming at the end of the album, tucked in there ever so discreetly, if this can be interpreted as Lovett’s last word on the relationship, it’s a surprisingly sweet and affectionate one. It may be the opposite of what I was expecting and even hoping for, but that makes it no less satisfying.
Of course, I could be completely wrong about all this. Maybe every song is pure fiction, the names all selected roughly at random or at least with no more consideration than how they fit into the melody and rhyming structure of the respective songs. It doesn’t matter. I can throw the extra baggage onto the car as it romps by or listen to the songs without a care for more intricate meaning. They’re great either way.
Listen or download –> Lyle Lovett, “The Girl in the Corner”
(Disclaimer: As I reported last time I shared a Lovett song in this space, I’m shocked at how little of the sterling artist’s back catalog seems to still be in print, at least as physical objects that can be procured from your favorite local, independently-owned record store in a manner that compensates both the fella from Texas and the proprietor of said shop. This song is shared here with the belief that doing so impedes no fair commerce and might even drive folks to check out more of Lovett’s material. It’s all first-rate. Fair as I may think it is to share this song in the space and in this manner, I will gladly and promptly remove it if asked to do so by any individual or entity with due authority to make such a request.)
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what happened to this song on my playlist??? i was doing some mobile housekeeping (nope, not in my car), and saw the time stamp of 0.00 next to “the girl in the corner” so i tapped on it–a random song played…tapped again–yet another random song. ??? then i couldn’t remember what the song sounded like, so i “searched” on google play–*the road to ensenada* popped up, but NO “the girl in the corner”! so i found it on youtube. but now it’s G.O.N.E from my music library. boo hoo.😭what is the deal?!
Sally She had Big ones…,Allison had little ones, what hate school… Breasts or Children?
in, ” I’ve been to Memphis”
The Road to Ensenada album is like a mobius strip complete story of a relationship. It is definitely Lyle Lovett’s finest album and masterwork and we have Julia Roberts and everything that surrounded their relationship for creating enough angst to birth its creation. Sadly, as a songwriter, he has never come close to these heights again (Step Inside This House could be argued that, as a singer, he does once more).
One reading of The Road to Ensenada could be that the listener returns to the first song from the last and begins the relationship journey over again. But I see it differently. The first song, “Don’t Touch My Hat” is about the end of a relationship due to his beloved departing with someone else. “Her First Mistake” is about the songwriter as pickup artist moving on and looking for someone new (and maybe, just maybe we learn WHY that first relationship ended). Then he meets one-eyed “Fiona,” a very specific reference to the blind-in-one-eye Julia Roberts (whose brother, Eric, may certainly be the crazy brother in question) and, through the remaining songs, the full relationship starts, matures, falters, and ultimately ends with the songwriter licking his wounds and healing in Ensenada (there is some scuttlebutt that he had a motorcycle accident in Ensenada and Julia wouldn’t come visit him, which may be why the album can go so dark and deep). To end this brilliant album on the last lyrics of that song, “You ain’t no friend to me,” would be to leave in such despair. But then, if you’re patient, the secret buried track brings you, “The Girl in the Corner,” wherein the next relationship begins, and, dare I say, hope for the future of the narrator.
While I agree that the names likely refer to his co-stars from “Short Cuts” and “The Player” (smart Susan and tall Tim and fine work of art Frances) at whose party he likely met Julia Roberts, I believe, this time, at the party that ends The Road to Ensenada album, instead of choosing to be introduced to “The Girl in the Corner,” he chooses the other, more down-to-Earth lady who “extended her hand to me, And the rest they say is history.” The sweetness of the instrumentation at that moment tells us he has the opportunity to choose joy and innocence this time. And he does. And maybe that’s who he married in real life. And maybe he’s been happy. And happiness, as has been said, writes in white ink, therefore he never again reaches artistic heights.
This analysis of the whole album is so good. I think your insights are spot on, including to note Lovett never again came close to songwriter of this caliber.
I also really appreciate that you mentioned Step Inside This House. I remember listening to that release when it came out and immediately thinking it would have been a perfect final album. It feels like such a perfect culmination, like Lovett revealed the secret code behind his own creativity with those cover songs.