Joanna Newsom, Good Intentions Paving Company (live), San Francisco, CA, Nov. 25, 2019 (HD)

Joanna Newsom plays her song "Good Intentions Paving Company" live in concert at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, California on November 25, 2019. Good Intentions Paving Company was released on Newsom's third studio album, Have One On Me (2010), and is considered by many to be about her relationship with Andy Samberg. The song's title, which was coined by Saul Bellow in a letter to fellow novelist Phllip Roth, plays off the expression, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Newsom performed as part of her "Strings/Keys Incident" tour, an intimate set of shows with just her singing and playing piano and harp, and marking her first return to touring since 2016.

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The Strings/Keys Incident: An Evening With Joanna Newsom Dates:

Sept. 6-7 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Kimmel Center
Sept. 9-15 – New York, NY @ El Teatro at El Museo del Barrio
Oct. 7-10 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Oct. 12-13 – Milwaukee, WI @ Irish Cultural and Heritage Center
Nov. 22 – Carmel, CA @ Sunset Cultural Center
Nov. 25-26 – San Francisco, CA @ Herbst Theatre
Dec. 10-14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Legion Theater (CANCELLED)
Jan. 15-16 – Austin, TX @ Bates Recital Hall

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Joanna Newsom official bio:

Avant-garde multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom will embark on a national tour. The String/Keys Incident – An Evening with Joanna Newsom will feature her emotively beautiful songs in a rare and intimate concert experience by Joanna alone: solo voice, harp, and piano!

Newsom was classically-trained on the harp at a young age and began her professional musical career as a keyboardist in the San Francisco-based indie band The Pleased. After self-releasing two EPs in 2002, she signed to the independent label Drag City where she released her debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender in 2004. The album released to critical-acclaim, named “The 12th best folk album of all time” by NME, and secured Newsom a dedicated underground following.

In 2006, she released Ys, which charted at Number 134 on Billboard 200 and received a 2007 Shortlist Music Prize nomination. She followed with the release of Have One on Me in 2010 and Divers in 2015. Her song “Sapokanikan” on Divers earned her a spot on NPR’s “The 200 greatest songs by 21st century women.”

No stranger to critical-acclaim, she is often noted for her unique musical style, sometimes characterized as psychedelic folk, and her prominent use of harp instrumentation.

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Good Intentions Paving Co. lyrics:

Twenty miles left to the show
Hello, my old country. Hello.
Stars are just beginning to appear
And I have never in my life, before been here

And it's my heart, not me, who cannot drive
At which conclusion you arrived
Watching me sit here, bolt upright,
and cry for no good reason at the Eastering sky

And the tilt of this strange nation
And the will to remain for the duration
Waving the flag
Feeling it drag

Like a bump on a bump on a log, baby
Like I'm in a fistfight with the fog, baby
Step, ball-change, and a-pirouette!

And I regret,
How I said to you, "Honey, just open your heart"
When I've got trouble even opening a honey jar
And that right there is where we are.

And I been 'fessing double fast
Addressing questions nobody asked
I'll get this joy off of my chest, at last
And I will love you 'til the noise has long since passed

And I did not mean to shout. Just drive.
Just get us out, dead or alive
The road's too long to mention.
Lord, it's something to see!
Laid down by the Good Intentions Paving Company

All the way to the thing we've been playing at, darling
I can see that you're wearing your staying hat, darling
For the time being, all is well
Won't you love me a spell?

This is blindness, beyond all conceiving
While, behind us, the road is leaving,
And leaving, and falling back
Like a rope gone slack

Well, I saw straightaway, that the lay was steep
But I fell for you, honey, easy as falling asleep
And that, right there, is the course I keep.

And no amount of talking
Is going to soften the fall
But, like after the rain, step out
Of the overhang, that's all

It had a nice ring to it
When the ol' opry house rang
So with a solemn auld lang
syne, sealed, delivered, I sang
I sang

And there is hesitation
And it always remains
Concerning you, me,
And the rest of the gang

But in our quiet hour
I feel I see everything
And am in love with the hook
Upon which everyone hangs

And I know you meant to show the extent
To which you gave a goddang
You ranged real hot and real cold, but I'm sold
I am home on that range

And I do hate to fold
Right here, at the top of my game
When I've been trying with my whole heart and soul
To stay right here in the right lane

But it can make you feel over and old
Lord, you know it's a shame
When I only want for you to pull over and hold me
'Til I can't remember my own name

Written by Joanna Caroline Newsom