'Only For You' is a track off American blues rock band Heartless Bastards' fourth studio album Arrow (2012), and the first verse is enough to establish the fact that the band's name must be an intentional (ironic?) misnomer: these bastards have a big heart, and they're not afraid to rock it out on their sleeves.
As Charlie Duerr of Paste Magazine has noted, the band's appeal certainly pivots on frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom’s "wonderfully androgynous and powerful voice that sounds like it would be just as at home belting tunes about black magic and dark spirits as it is personal tales of love, loss and general weariness, the latter which she tends to opt for". 'Only For You' is thematically simple (its basically a personal tale of love), being mainly about the lyrical persona's profound attraction (and the need to connect) to a desired other:
'Been a while since I felt this way about someone, I'd really really like to know you, more,Oh oh, know you, moreOh, your eyes, they sing a song to me,I'd really really like to go to it, oh, go, ohAnd I will oh, open my heartAnd I will oh, only for youOh your eyes are spinning round my headAnd all, all this line of sorrow, ooh, yeah ooooh, yeahOh your eyes are spinning round my headAnd all, all this line of sorrow, ooh, yeah ooooh'
What makes the song distinctive is Wennerstrom’s ability to simultaneously evoke a persona that is wearied and anguished from (presumably) being alone and disconnected prior to this, and whose willingness to make an exception this one time is bogged down by emotional inertia: 'I'm so tired, of trying, ooh ooh ooh'. The lyrics only do so much work; a lot of the song's meaning is carried by the Wennerstrom's commanding ability to evoke frustration, resignation, hope, fatigue, optimism, melancholy and determination with the inflections of her vocals and the drawing out of vowels. The guitar strings and drum beats rightfully allow her voice to take center stage, soaring into the heights of hope as a vaguely desperate attempt to evade the wearying 'line of sorrow'.
The accompanying music video seems to be an ode to how love can make you feel like a child again, when everything is a novel experience and so many things seem possible. It might come across as a bit cheesy to most rock fans, but this song is, after all, about making an exception.
