They weren't as neat or dramatic as Lloyd had made them seem, and I understood what that critic had been talking about. That by writing the songs Cole had made these people narrower-than life. That by finishing the songs with a neat turn of phrase and a chorus Cole had given these people a bit of drama, and somewhere in the unspoken distance, the chance of an ending. Which is unrealistic, you know. And that makes me like the songs more again.
Country music works like that too.
I'd like it even more if it was called both. Douglas Wolk makes me green.