"Night Shift" by Lucy Dacus // Song Review
"Night Shift" is a song made up of Lucy Dacus' signature raw and emotive songwriting, fully realized through its six and a half minute run time. Lucy said at the time of its release that it is the only breakup song she's ever written. The song is deeply intimate and specific, building to an explosive ending. It is overall a testament to the love and memories they shared, but it also feels very much like a final word. "Night Shift" is one that wants the distance and the space to never see them again, while still recognizing the positive experiences that shaped the music born from that relationship.
"Don't hold your breath, forget you ever saw me at my best, you don't deserve what you don't respect," she sings in the second verse. "Don't deserve what you say you love and then neglect, now bite your tongue, it's too dangerous to fall so young, take back what you said, can't lose what you never had".
"You got a 9-to-5, so I'll take the night shift and I'll never see you again, if I can help it" she repeatedly sings in the final verse. "In five years, I hope the songs feel like covers, dedicated to new lovers".
That line is such a striking depiction of the life of an artist, especially one who pours so much of themselves into their writing and the love songs that defined a very specific period of life. To hope that one day the songs she wrote about that person feel like covers is such an interesting paradox that so many great artists and songwriters undoubtedly deal with. To allow such a big piece of yourself to live within your art, knowing that no matter what happens, the people and experiences that make up these moments of inspiration will be immortalized forever within the music is daunting, but also ultimately worth it for the sake of self-expression.
Knowing that in moments of heartbreak like this, these songs may be painful for the artist to look back on, but will eventually take on a life of their own and attach themselves to new loves and experiences -both for the listener and the artist themself - regardless of what the original intention was directed toward, is a testament to how powerful and fluid music can be. It shows how art continues to evolve long after the moment it is created. To live an artistic life and risk that the songs written in devotion may be difficult to revisit for a time, yet believe that someday you'll be able to hand those same words to someone new, is part of what makes a song like this so enduring.
She repeats that line several times at the end over an intensifying guitar solo, the entire track building to that moment. It feels like such a bold and cathartic conclusion to the song and to that period of her life, but it also simultaneously opens her up to all of the new chapters that are still to come.
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