Indigo Girls

Early years

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers first met and got to know each other as students at Laurel Ridge Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia, just outside Decatur, Georgia, but were not close friends because Saliers was a grade older than Ray. While attending Shamrock High School (now Druid Hills Middle School), they became better acquainted, and started performing together, first as "The B-Band" and then as "Saliers and Ray".

Songwriting and influences

Ray and Saliers do not ordinarily collaborate in writing songs. Saliers described herself as "a lyric person. [...] I’ve always respected Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan". Saliers said: "Amy is much more a combination of music and lyrics. She really likes alternative rock a lot, and she likes the feel of certain kinds of music as well as the lyrics. Amy is more stream-of-consciousness. She doesn’t censor herself at all; she just channels it through herself, so in her lyrics, she has tons of different kinds of images, sensual images, things of the earth, that connection to nature. Mine is a much more singer-songwriter intellectual narrative style. I take an idea and try to really pinpoint it, make it as clear as possible".

Closer to Fine

"Closer to Fine" is a song by American folk rock duo Indigo Girls. The song was written by Emily Saliers, who also sang lead vocals, and was released in 1989 as the first single from their eponymous second album.

The song primarily speaks to the search for meaning in life. "Closer to Fine" was reviewed favorably, and although it was only a modest hit initially, it went on to become the duo’s signature song.

Composition

"Closer to Fine" is written by Emily Saliers, half of the Indigo Girls duo. Both Saliers and Amy Ray, the other band member, play acoustic guitar and sing on this track, giving the song a melody and a countermelody. The lyrics, termed by Trish Bendix of The New York Times as "slightly inscrutable", center around the search for meaning in life introspectively and in the wider world. The verses of the song, which are sung over four chords, build to the chorus, louder and resting an octave higher:

Reception

Reception for "Closer to Fine" was positive. In the UK, Robin Smith of Record Mirror called it "a darned fine song", describing it as "full of fruity guitars, lush lyrics and a chorus that makes you want to go and roll around in a field of clover". NME ranked it at number 15 on its list of the 50 best tracks of 1989. Billboard ranked it 17th on its list of the 65 best LGBTQ anthems. Reviewers have hailed "Closer to Fine" as a road trip song: Maria Lorusso of All Things Considered argues that the friendship between Ray and Saliers, and the melody/counter-melody singing it gives rise to, gives the song "extremely high singalong potential". Saliers agreed with the idea an interview, commenting that "it's got a very easy melody and really easy...