"Closer to Fine" is a folk single by Indigo Girls, an American songwriting duo consisting of

Amy Ray Amy Elizabeth Ray (born April 12, 1964) is an American alto singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls. She also pursues a solo career and has released six albums under her own name, and founded a record company, Daem ...

and

Emily Saliers Emily Ann Saliers (born July 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the musical duo Indigo Girls. Saliers sings soprano and plays lead guitar as well as banjo, piano, mandolin, ukulele, bouzouki and many other instruments. Ear ...

. The single, released in 1989 from their eponymous second album, was written by Saliers and performed by Saliers and Ray. The song primarily speaks to the search for meaning in life. "Closer to Fine" was reviewed favorably, and appeared in the 2023 film ''

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''.

Composition

"Closer to Fine" is written by Emily Saliers, half of the Indigo Girls duo. Both Saliers and

, the other band member, play acoustic guitar and sing on this track, giving the song a melody and a

countermelody In music, a counter-melody (often countermelody) is a sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent lead melody. In other words, it is a secondary melody played in counterpoint with the prima ...

. The lyrics, termed by Trish Bendix of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' 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: I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains There's more than one answer to these questions Pointing me in a crooked line. And the less I seek my source for some definitive, Closer I am to fine. The song does not directly answer the question of meaning, instead advising to take life less seriously – one lyric reads "it's only life, after all". In an interview with ''The New York Times'', Saliers said she felt that the song advised making life a little better by seeking small pieces of knowledge from a wide variety of sources, instead of looking for a universal truth in one place.

Reception

Reception for "Closer to Fine" was generally positive. In 2016, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' ranked it 15th on its list of the 50 best tracks of 1989. Billboard ranked it 17th on its list of the 65 best

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

anthems. Reviewers have hailed "Closer to Fine" as a road trip song: Maria Lorusso of ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' 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 chorus, and the chorus repeats". "Closer to Fine" experienced a resurgence in popularity when it was featured on the 2023 film ''

.'' It was played on three occasions in the film, first as the song that plays when the titular character takes a road trip to leave Barbieland for the real world. It also appears in the trailer. Reviewers noted that the song was an anomaly among tracks by contemporary pop stars such as Dua Lipa and

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, but spoke positively to its placement in the movie. Brandi Carlile covered the song with backup vocals from her wife in the film's accompanying soundtrack, although the original is the version that appears in the movie.

References

{{Indigo Girls 1989 singles Indigo Girls songs