written by Emily Saliers

produced by Scott Litt

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Folksy Sapphic singers Amy Ray and Emily Saliers—or as I

sometimes like to affectionately refer to them, Ames and Ems

Indigo—teamed up to form the Indigo Girls in the early ’80s. After

meeting in elementary school in Georgia, their first years as singer/

songwriters took form in high school and college. In 1985 they released an independent single called “Crazy Game.” A full-length independent album called Strange Fire followed in 1987, which they put out on May 1st, ’87, under the imprint Indigo Records. The following year landed them a deal with CBS division Epic Records (a label by then famous for having issued, among many others, Michael Jackson’s insanely high-selling albums Thriller and Bad). Strange Fire contained the first chronological song the Girls recorded to receive some radio airplay, even if not released as a single—“Blood And Fire.”

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1989 was a bigger year for the Indigo gals. On the last day of 1989’s February, Amy, Emily and Epic presented us with the IGs’ self-titled album, their major-label debut. It opened with the album’s lone single, the song covered on this page, “Closer To Fine.” Just as with Strange Fire, the duo split the

album’s songwriting duties about 50-50, and “Closer To Fine” was a brainchild of Emily’s. She sang lead, Amy backing her on vocals and guitar. It speaks to you so easily and affably, with its profound life lesson lyrics, gentle beat and pleasant sound, echoed by the mild feel of its video. It was quite a “Fine” tone-setter for the signature work the Girls would continue turning out through the ’90s and beyond.

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(“Blood And Fire” was plucked from Strange Fire—before Strange Fire was later re-released by Epic—and also included on Indigo Girls (the ’89 record): side 1, track 5. A first version of the song “Land Of Canaan” appeared on Strange Fire, and was kept there in Strange Fire’s re-release, as the Indigo Girls  record contained a new version of this song (“Canaan”). For the above reason, when Epic re-issued Strange Fire in October 1989, “Blood And Fire” was left off. Like so many of the other acts I’ll be covering, we’ll feature more songs by Ames and Ems Indigo in their due time!)

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version

music video

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the Girls’ official website