Infinity Blues

by Ryan Adams

“This book is the jewel of my life’s work. Who I am is this book."—Ryan Adams “I won't say Adams is the best North American singer-songwriter since Neil Young . . . but I won't say he isn't, either.”—Stephen King, author of The Shining “Ryan Adams’s ‘Come Pick Me Up’ makes me want to &%#$ the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker.”—Mary-Louise Parker, actress Ryan Adams may be known primarily for acclaimed albums such as Heartbreaker , Gold , Love Is Hell , Cold Roses , Jacksonville City Nights , and Easy Tiger , but the world renowned singer-songwriter has always been a poet and fiction writer at heart. With the release of Infinity Blues , his non-musical writing is for the first time ever unveiled in book form. Mr. Adams' work rings of an emotional authenticity that provides perhaps an even deeper insight into the man than is revealed through the songs that have resonated with his hundreds of thousands of fans the world over. Ryan Adams is a world-famous singer-songwriter who is usually performing in some city at any given moment with his longtime band the Cardinals. Adams is known for his prolific nature, which in the last ten years has produced albums including Heartbreaker , Gold (which includes the popular hit songs "When the Stars Go Blue" and "New York, New York"), Demolition , Love Is Hell , Jacksonville City Nights , Easy Tiger , and more. Adams has also produced Willie Nelson's Songbird album and contributed to albums by Toots and the Maytals, Beth Orton, The Wallflowers, Minnie Driver, Counting Crows, and Cowboy Junkies; additionally, he has appeared on CMT's Crossroads with Elton John. He lives in New York City and listens to A LOT of heavy metal.

Genres: Poetry, Music, Fiction, 21st Century

286 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

David Ryan Adams is an American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter. Raised by his mother and grandmother, Adams dropped out of school at age 16 and performed with several local bands before moving to Raleigh and forming the band Whiskeytown. Three albums and five years later, Adams went solo, releasing Heartbreaker in 2000. A longtime resident of New York City, Adams is probably best known for his song "New York, New York", which appeared on his 2001 release Gold. He has since released four more solo albums and three albums and one EP with backing band The Cardinals. His latest release, the EP Follow The Lights, was released on October 23, 2007.

Adams has also produced albums by Jesse Malin and Willie Nelson and contributed to the albums of artists, including Toots and the Maytals, Beth Orton, The Wallflowers, Jesse Brand, Minnie Driver, Counting Crows, America and Cowboy Junkies. He also appeared on CMT's Crossroads with Elton John.

Reviews

[d4 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm on page 63. Is it too soon to say I'm disappointed?

"...oh god
blah, and yuck
and YOU know
and she knows
and you will never cry
for a time before a sound
tells you
why
and
how
for a thought hits under your heels
and smashes to the ground
underneath the wheels
of my rig
full of cock and hope
and eventual betrayal
and you know
and she knows
and I did not
but she is full of fear
which makes me hot...."

"...Elf Mountain,
i rely on you
and a soft gang of unicorns
plus
the medicine
to help me find that strange thing--
that strange valley
sleep
i find it so hard to imagine
or reach
...Elf Mountain,
do you have a favorite
set of marbles in your
jar of brains
of things to help you
do 'that' but something
opposite
of me when i am awake
like this?"


"write a line
cross it out
nothing i say
is ever good enough
anyway
my stomach is turning
bloody gray
full of rust
riddled with cliche
and gay as fuck"

This does nothing for me. Is it supposed to do something for me just because I'm a fan of his music? It doesn't. "Riddled with cliche and gay as fuck" describes it rather dead-on, but even that isn't good poetry (IMO--well, of course it's IMO, it's in my fucking book review).


PAGE 84--I GIVE UP. I am not enjoying it, so FUCK IT.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ryan Adams has been one of my favourite songwriters for years now, and though I don't read poetry much, I figured that since I loved his lyrics (which are essentially poems), I might like his poetry. I was right, though not in the way I thought. Ryan has a gift with words and playing them off each other, but Infinity Blues also displays his humor, his dark side, his fears - it displays his range.

I took about two months to read all poems, because I've found that poetry isn't actually fast to read. It takes time to swallow it all in. I digested it, and was able to parallel many of his personal issues with what I already know about him: Ryan used to do a lot of drugs, used to drink a lot, and he's someone people write about and pay attention to. He's sober now, but it's obvious that it's a struggle for him not to think of those days and going back to them. He writes about death a lot, and questions his own mortality...

And then there's women and love and sex and relationships and all the good memories, or anger, or sadness these subjects conjure up in Ryan. Mainly sadness, though. And being alone. And his mistakes. In the titular poem, "Infinity Blues," Ryan touches on some of these subjects, and growing old:

i don't address you
when you read
because it was only one girl i wanted to need
who i wanted to write to
or for
only one set of legs
for me to set the seed
i am a dirty old fuck on the inside
but not
i am all kinds of trinkets and Southern things
forget
spoiled by loneliness
and made of forgot

In the poem, he repeats the line, "and i AM going to die," as if he's reassuring himself that the pain he feels will end at some point, at least. There's that.

And for all his prolific writing, Ryan has dealt with many a critic, which he addresses in "Joy" -

When you say a thing that I write too much
I dream myself a thousand-plus
more book I wrote myself
and imagine them in a swinging stack
fainting
and collapsing onto you
as they crush your bones
in the name of art

I think Ryan's poetry can only really make sense to those who do know the background of Ryan's own career and struggles - or maybe not. Maybe that's just extra goodness to someone like me, a huge fan of Ryan, and un-used to poetry.

My favourite poems:
Anxiety and Hope
i think i thought i loved you
infinity blues
Cease Fire
Joy
27 Steps (which is somewhat of a short story...)

[Les · Rating 1 out of 5]

To directly quote Mr. Adams from his own book:

"oh god
Blah, and yuck."

and

" I am a fucking fool
you know
for thinking this is poetry."

Do you remember that bad "poetry" you wrote in high school and you know how happy you are that no one ever saw it? This collection feels exactly like that. Painful. Wannabe Kerouac hipster nonsense.

I love much of Ryan Adams' music and think he can be a damn genius at times. Perhaps if he becomes as prolific a poet and fiction writer as he is a songwriter more will stick to the wall that is worth keeping or stands out like a "Heartbreaker" or "Love is Hell." This just takes itself way too seriously and the payoff is almost nil.

Here is a bright spot (because of the footnote):

I Refuse

I refuse to edit*
I am but a single life
I refuse to edit
look away
if you choose
but these bulbs
will burn in cycles
if forever
was a single night


*Editor's Note: This poem was originally 32 pages long.--JT.

It is also apparently the only poem in the book in which the editor was enlisted. Deeply disappointing.

[Shawn Hancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ryan Adams is Ryan Adams. There really is no other description. Read this interesting collection of prose and poetry and you will know what I mean. A man involved in many projects, Ryan is best known for his work as a musician. If you happen to have love unrequited in your life right now, please listen to 'Heartbreaker' on repeat and you will feel much better. Side note: Ryan's record company was pressuring him to name his first solo album, and while on the phone with the record execs he came up with 'Heartbreaker', not because the album is filled with songs about heartbreak and loss, but because he was looking up at his poster of Mariah Carry on the wall. The one where she is wearing the pink t-shirt with 'Heartbreaker' printed on the bossom. Ryan Adams is Ryan Adams.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is some raw, heart-felt poetry. We read this at night before we go to bed and enjoy the intimacy. It is like rereading your diary.

[Darci Morosko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book of poetry…there were moments that he captured perfectly, some sentiment…or a feeling that I thought he sketched disjointed phrases and wove them together to bring to light something quite powerful. But those moments were hard to find…scattered…in the midst of a flow of words that felt sometimes like watching a drowning person randomly flailing and doing nothing to help…which is not an easy feeling to categorize and is not something I want to do. I want to help or in terms of this work…I want to at least feel a sense of the writer’s purpose or viewpoint…or something to take away from the poem…. Many of these poems left me with no sense of the author and nothing really to feel other than confusion. Some of the poems were striking and beautifully captured a feeling of anger, loss, or aching loneliness/sadness. If you love Ryan Adams, you will love this poetry and should definitely read this. If you want to look for the hidden gems…if you enjoy a treasure hunt…then take the time to find the phrases, lines and poems in here that capture something profoundly moving.

[Scott Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Ryan Adams.

I have never read poetry.

I enjoyed this.

I enjoyed this as felt it was a lil window on the mind of Ryan at a time he was at a bad spot in his life. Reading it i wasn tsure it was originally meant to be a commercial item, it was like the out pouring of words strung together, sometime it made sense, sometime it was just an outpouring of words.

Sometime you could get lil movie like scenes running through your head to match what was on the page.

I flet quite sad for Rayn as there was clearly a lot going on in his head and if this helped him to get some of it out then good for him.

This isnt a book for all. thsi is not like his lyrics, its a bit more base level, a bit more feral than that.

I already have the follow up ready to go, maybe not right away...but soon.

[Kinsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

"so go outside and watch the stars come up
don't get caught up in way that it's designed
it isn't for us
to analyze
it's up there for us to feel
like somehow
everything that got touched
turned to the light."

There are some brilliant gems in this poetry anthology, but quite unfortunately it requires some serious digging...

[Caitlin Buxbaum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Compared to Hello Sunshine, this was a bit of a disappointment. Hard to follow and mostly random, unpolished word vomit. An occasional clever/pretty line here and there, and I do love Ryan Adams, so I couldn't just give it one star.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm...
Some of these are good.
Some are awful.
You claim they are fiction.
But some seem autobiographical.

[Brian Wasserman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Im sure somewhere there is a garbage dump inhabited by this book

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do with is one. There's a handful of stellar, beautifully crafted poems in this book. There are a few that lend themselves to being set to music in your head, almost like a pile of discarded, half-written songs. And there are a LOT that could have been phenomenal with another revision or two. Is it worth weeding through the junk to find the gems? That's a Ryan Adams-esque question in and of itself.

I would argue that the most honest poem in the batch is My Watch Hates You, which gave me a lot of insight into just how far down he was and made me look at New York, New York differently as a result. I only know scattered bits of his background, as retold by a friend, so this poem stands out to me as authentic recollections in a moment of sober clarity.

Overall, it's not a great work, but it was enjoyable, if you're willing to skip over the ones that straight-up suck. And in my experience, that's true for all poetry books.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disjointed, rambling, stream of consciousness, self absorbed and sometimes self loathing poetry of sorts. Wonderful and strange stuff. Like cracking open the egg of Adam's mind and stirring the yoke.

It seems to
ME
that a message
of this sort
should be read aloud
to only those you love
in a bathtub of empathy
waters of safety
covering
in a warm sheen
from outside
judgmentalism
a
spilled heart.
Whatever.

And even though I just wrote the above, yeah, it reads something like that. And I love it. And I get it.

[Windy]

I feel a little bit like a giddy thirteen year old girl as type this, but I absolutely cannot wait to read this! Besides, now that he's sober and married (sob, sob, sob), this is all I have to sate my Ryan Adams addiction.

Also, I was looking at other reviews of this work, and how dare someone named Cyndi (the phonemic similarity to my own name is torturing me) brag about her signed copy! Oh, you think you're so cool, Cyndi? Well, at least I got to stand next to Neal Casal! So there. Sigh.

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans of Adams' music will be inspired to read this, and may or may not be disappointed. Adams' music is incredible, and he is a gifted wordsmith. His poetry however, has definite hits and misses. Part teenage stream of consciousness, part serious reflection. His poems wash over you like a forgotten dream, a cloud of bar smoke and everything you wished you could forget about someone who ripped out your heart.

[Ryan Johnston · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Ryan Adams as a songwriter, but his 'poetry' fails to retain any poetic glamour from his songwriting. Much of the content is Bukowski-esque, and if you've read him before, you know that the work can get pretty boring pretty quickly. It reminds me more of a 13-year-old's journal than the work of a wonderful musician.

Not to say it's a complete waste of time though. At least it's not Fifty Shades of Grey.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly what I was expecting, somewhat hit or miss, but a decent collection. There were a few that I thought were downright bad, but overall it was an enjoyable journey through the mind of one of my favorite artists.

some of my favorites: Spit Hits My Face, c'mon, let's go, Joy, & My Watch Hates You.

[Adrian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Underwhelming poetry. Book droned on and on about nothing, and tried to pack way too much into one book of poems. I'm not afraid of curse words in literature, but I don't think this guy could formulate a poem without using the f-word. Self-loathing and being gruff are the shaky crutches this book stands on. I just didn't care for this book, or see its point.

[Amy Wuerch · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a singer/songwriter, Ryan Adams is perfect to me. I will never tire of his emotionally charged rock n' roll. Reading Infinity Blues feels like I am his best friend and he's telling me his innermost secret thoughts. His poetry and prose can make me laugh and cry, and that, in my opinion, is the best kind.

[Sara Comuzzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

libro di poesie del cantautore ryan adams, non tradotto in italiano e perciò solo in lingua originale. chi lo segue riconoscerà un ragazzo sensibile giovane, ultra prolifico nelle sue cose da dire, nella sua sofferenza, nella dipendenza da droghe, negli amori che non sono mai veri amori e in uno dei pezzi si chiede: è il primo o l'ultimo bacio, quello che realmente conta?

[E_h · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a massive fan of DRA's music, but this collection of poetry just doesn't hold up for me. It has some good moments, but overall it's pretty adolescent, lacking the depth and real emotional rawness that make his lyrics good. Disappointing, even though I was eager and ready to love it.

[Ilan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Ryan Adams. Love. His poetry is really angry, strange that doesn't come out in his music.

[Kristin Myrtle · Rating 5 out of 5]

i adore ryan adams' prolific music... his prose is just as haunting... just as touching and just as human.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

My friend has a copy of INFINITY BLUES, so I read approx 20 poems. Once I gave it a fair chance it became fun and, at times, surprisingly insightful reading.

[Jeffrey Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...Elf Mountain, I rely on you."

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best gift I've ever received. Signed by the man himself. Did I mention this was the best present ever?

[Danny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't really review this one. I enjoyed it in some parts but I really don't know enough about poetry to know if it's good or not.

[Britt Pennella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great but not horrible.if you like him it's actually pretty good.

[Larry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually read 1/3. I'm glad Ryan Adams' day job is making great music, because I didn't care for his poetry.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense, man. Very intense. It took me freaking forever to get through, because I could only read it in small chunks.