Lucinda Williams’ “Side of the Road” is a perfect song.

• Structurally: It doesn’t rely too heavily on the chorus. The instruments (violins and Gurf Morlix’s steel guitar) harmonize with Williams’ voice, instead of competing with it.

• Thematically: It’s about struggling to retain your independence in a relationship, and who doesn’t know a thing or two about that?

• Lyrically: “If only for a minute or two, I want to see what it feels like to be without you; to know the touch of my own skin, against the sun, against the wind.” (Full lyrics below the jump.)

• Linguistically: Every time I hear Lucinda sing, “If ah stray away too far from yew, don’t go and try to fahnd me, it dudn’t mean ah don’t love you, it dudn’t mean ah won’t come back and stay besahd yew,” I feel like I’m back in Austin, drinking beer on the porch at Trudy’s and baking in the sun.

• Musically: The notes of the steel guitar are perfectly articulated above Lucinda’s incredible craggy voice, and the fiddles are sweet enough to tug at you, subtle enough not to be cloying.

• Emotionally: It makes me cry every time I hear it. Even now.

You wait in the car on the side of the road
Lemme go and stand awhile, I wanna know you're there but I wanna be alone
If only for a minute or two
I wanna see what it feels like to be without you
I wanna know the touch of my own skin
Against the sun, against the wind

I walked out in a field, the grass was high, it brushed against my legs
I just stood and looked out at the open space and a farmhouse out a ways
And I wondered about the people who lived in it
And I wondered if they were happy and content
Were there children and a man and a wife?
Did she love him and take her hair down at night?

If I stray away too far from you, don't go and try to find me
It doesn't mean I don't love you, it doesn't mean I won't come back and
stay beside you
It only means I need a little time
To follow that unbroken line
To a place where the wild things grow
To a place where I used to always go

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
La la la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
If only for a minute or two
I wanna see what it feels like to be without you
I wanna know the touch of my own skin
Against the sun, against the wind [The song ends on G.]