Matt Nathanson is one of the few acts I have had the privilege of seeing live more than once. So far the only others are Frank Turner and Frightened Rabbit. But he has the special distinction of both times occurring when I was still in high school. I‰’ve mentioned this before, but Johnstown Pennsylvania isn‰’t much of a destination for live music so when something vaguely exciting comes everyone goes. And that happened my sophomore year of high school. Kelly Clarkson, of all people, would be playing the Cambria County War Memorial Arena with support by Matt Nathanson. I went primarily for the opener and he honestly put on a better show than Clarkson did. A few months later he was headlining a show in Greensburg and I managed to convince my mom to allow me to go. But his shows are about half music and half comedy shows and are he‰’s a pretty funny guy.

But his music falls squarely into the “White Guy With an Acoustic Guitar‰” spectrum that is the genre of “Adult Alternative.‰” Occupying the same space as Matchbox 20, Train, and Dave Matthews Band, Matt Nathanson is, in my opinion, one of the most consistently good acts in it—at least up through his 2015 album. His live album At The Point is by far, my favorite live album ever released, and his major label debut Beneath These Fireworks is in my top 50 albums of all-time, and his last indie record Still Waiting for Spring is not far out of that list. There‰’s just something about the simple, emotional music he puts out that appealed to the person I was in high school and still manages to appeal to me over four years and a lot of personal growth later. And honestly it appeals more to me now that I‰’ve grown a bit more as a person from the naÌøve boy I was at 16. So today we‰’ll be looking at the song that when you listen to it you just are transported back to 1999: “More Than This‰” from the aforementioned Still Waiting for Spring.

The track opens with a twangy acoustic guitar that, combined with the rest of the backing track manage to accurately date the track. While I was only turning 4 in 1999, I still have some basic memories of what pop culture looked like at the time: clear electronics were the coolest, the Game Boy Color was the hottest portable video game system, having the internet was a luxury, and White Guys With Acoustic Guitars were all over the radio. Lyrically, the song doesn‰’t seem like much to write home about and is right in Nathanson‰’s wheelhouse of songs about relationships—mostly failing ones. It initially details a conversation between the two parties:

What a spoiled boy I‰’ve been
My mouth full, mess, my arms outstretched
I‰’ve got palm sweat, I‰’m smiling like I‰’m competition
Well, maybe I‰’m yours

She said “I know you, you‰’re a salesman‰’s son
And you‰’re pimping pretty junk‰Û

Not a very complex situation—something we‰’ve all heard before and many of you probably loathe hearing. But I love it. Maybe I‰’m just “basic,‰” but it‰’s exhausting listening to edgy music all the time and I frequently need a break. But anyway, moving forward with the chorus, we hear the two parties directly air their grievances to each other:

And I said:
“What am I supposed to do
They‰’ve built the scenes around you
And I need More Than This‰Û

And she said
“What am I supposed to
Look at what‰’s become of you
And I need More Than This.‰Û

So it is very clear the two of them are not happy in this relationship, at all, and fundamentally are at odds with what each other want out of the relationship. So perhaps they are breaking up in this conversation, but still the song continues into the next verse, but it is not very clear who is talking to whom here. But I believe this ambiguity is intentional in that it shows that it is what both parties are thinking about the other, and that the relationship has generally not been the happiest for either of them:

Go on then, hitch me up, baby
If what I am is not enough
‰Cause I do love the glow you get
When you‰’re told word for word
How to think for yourself

So I just spent most of this time analyzing a pretty simple song that genuinely did not need but explanation. But there‰’s just something about the way Nathanson crafts the lyrics, melodies, and the timbre of his voice to make this relatively simple story interesting and unique that made him stand out, at least to me, from all the White Guys With Acoustic Guitars that I could‰’ve decided to write about this week.

Also seriously go listen to his live record. The stories he tells in between songs are some of the funniest banter you can hear on record. He is so much more than just “Come on Get Higher‰” and has a LONG back catalogue that most people don‰’t know about.