The Friday song (on a Sunday): ‘Righteously’ by Anna Ash

This week, Mark Rosin’s listening tour of a song he admires traverses Anna Ash’s version of the Lucinda Williams track, ‘Righteously’. Ash blends folk and atmospheric indie pop, with the thought-provoking lyrics packaged in her distinctive vocals.
June 22, 2025
1 min read

I love the insouciance with which Anna Ash flicks out her interpretation of Lucinda Williams’s Righteously, today’s Friday song. 

Williams’s original was punched by crunching electric guitars, representing perhaps her disdain for the man who treats her lovingly only when it comes to intimacy, but disrespects her at other times.

Ash’s version takes a different approach. She oozes calm, throwing her contempt at the man with righteous indignation and a curl of her vocal lip as she sings “You don’t have to prove your manhood to me constantly / I know you’re the man, can’t you see I love you righteously?”

And then: “Be my lover, don’t play no game / Just play me John Coltrane” – in short, just be real!

Ash wants this to work, but despite every angled attempt at a meaningful relationship, the guy is simply a total jerk. Ash changes the mood and tone from Williams’s hot to her cool. She sings almost absently, the guitars forming an intertwining partner, with fluid, varied lines, J.J. Cale-type voicings and loose-wristed rhythms.

To relate and translate emotional meaning like this is one of the many gifts so many singers give to us all. Whether you choose to engage with the subject matter and the song or either, enjoy the song and have a good weekend.

I started a music WhatsApp group in 2023. I send one song a week on a Friday, with links to both Apple and Spotify, and an accompanying narrative/capsule piece. You’ll read it here on a Sunday. If you want to engage about a song, get a playlist or just get in touch, email me on [email protected].

Listen to Righteously on Spotify here and on Apple Music here.

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Mark Rosin

Mark Rosin is a media and entertainment lawyer by profession but his deep passion is music. He worked as a professional attorney and then in the corporate world for over 30 years and now spends more of his time focused on one of his passions, listening to and writing about music.

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