on the road

a raw, scratchy, bluesy love letter from the queen of pop. recorded on only one take on a tour bus, it reflects the brilliance of her much-admired stripped-down performances, accentuating on gaga's drunken demeanor and nonsensical freestyling through echoing claps and off-pitchiness that recalls riot grrls and british punk. what i love the most is that the lyrics begin with gaga having "nothing" but by the end, she has sold out a show in minnesota, giving the song a beautiful chronology of this torrid, rural love affair from its humble start to its humbled finish. i'd be lying if i didn't say i'd prefer an entire album in this vein but that is completely up to the artist. in the meantime, i will always wonder what could be whenever i listen to the immortal line: "we've got mice in the kitchen/but we don't care/'cause we're in love."