Listen to “Guess Again” by Jeff Tweedy
Fresh tomatoes on the vine, summer’s end-of-season consolation prize—what can compare? How about true love, asks Jeff Tweedy on “Guess Again,” a humble reminder of valuing commitment above everything, even a killer BLT. And Tweedy, who recently celebrated 25 years of marriage with Sue Miller, has love on the brain: “Guess Again” arrives alongside “Love Is the King,” the title track from a forthcoming solo album. With soft percussion and Tweedy’s familiar, weathered acoustics, the two songs paint a picture of a love that’s survived addictions, outlasted challenges, and come out stronger.
So there’s nothing really to guess on “Guess Again,” the simpler and more upbeat of the pair. It’s a sure thing: Wide-open, unconditional love for a partner, or perhaps a child—the kind of vast interior feeling that, from the outside, can seem undifferentiated or even mundane. Don’t these people ever get into an argument? But from the inside, Tweedy observes, it’s the fights and the hard times that recede into the background. “Oh trouble, I can sing it the same/Or just about the same as any other song you can name,” he sings, doubling back for a little self-deprecating songwriter humor. “And if you think that’s the main thing pulling me through/Guess again, my love—it’s you.” Aww.