Songfacts®:

• John Hiatt describes this song as a "blues moan," in the tradition of classic blues numbers that wallow in misery, usually over the loss of a good woman, which is the case here.
  
  Hiatt was actually in a good place when he wrote the song, newly married and doing some of his best work. But there are shadows cast from the light, and he wanted to explore that here.
  
  "It's the dark side, in the classical sense," he told the Omaha Rainbow. "It's a necessary ingredient. Between that soft stuff there has to be some cartilage. For all I try to stay positive, I get negative and down a lot. Like most guys. That's why songs like that are there."
• Hiatt had long battled alcoholism before emerging sober for his 1987 album Bring The Family, which includes this track. The opening lines in the song nod to his previous condition:
  
  It's a lonely picture
  Of an empty glass
  It's a still life study
  Of a drunken ass
• Those slide guitar licks on this song come from Ry Cooder, the guitarist for the Bring The Family album. Cooder is a top session player as well as a solo artist (Hiatt played on Cooder's 1980 album Borderline). Rounding out the band for this album were Nick Lowe on bass and Jim Keltner on drums, also renown musicians. These four guys formed their own band in 1991 called Little Village, but they couldn't capture that magic. After an album and tour, they went their separate ways.