Acorns and Orioles - Guided by Voices - Under Bushes, Under Stars - 1996

One of the few things I miss about the midwest is the sound of trains. I can think of few sounds more evocative than a train whistle blowing in the night, off in the distance. According to the GBV book, Hunting Accidents, Bob wrote this song after walking along the train tracks late at night smoking a joint. And as a fellow midwesterner, Bob captured it perfectly. The shimmery feedback- y noise in the back ground perfectly captures the sad foreboding that the of the song. And as usual, Pollard's trick of making a seemingly meaningless phrase heavy with implied feeling is wonderfully executed. By the time he's chanting "I can't tell you anything, you don't already know" you feel like the weight of 1,000, 000 fights rests on the back of those lyrics.

Truly a great, great song.