Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones - The Only Ones - 1978

I was speaing to a friend earlier today about a place I had crashed for a while when I first moved to NYC. It was located on Bleeker St. in the days when that section was still somewhere in between Dylan's village and the attrocious alterna-mall it has since become...though it was already well on its way to being crap.

Anyway, as I'm fairly sure I've mentioned, when a person first moves to the city in their mid-twenties they are generally ungodly poor for at least the first year. Rents are astronomical, everything is expensive, and there is just SO MUCH TO DO and you don't want to miss a thing.

My girlfriend at the time had this sublet for the summer, and I was crashing with her while looking for my own apartment. She lived with another girl from her college that summer, and that girl also had a boyfriend that basically lived in the apartment too...so essientially there were two couples splitting a one bedroom on bleeker street and we were all flat broke. We had all pooled our money and gone down to the local grocery store and had bought the ingredients to make some sort of chicken noodle/cream of mushroom casserole sort of thing.

I spent the better portion of the evening cooking this thing, and then we took it out of the oven and sat it on top of the stove to cool. We then retreated to the living room/our bedroom to watch some tv while we anticipated our feasts. A few minutes later, we heard the crash and we all knew what it meant.

Like many NYC apartments, the floor was kind of slanted. This had caused our caserole to slowly, slowly slide forward off the stove. And there it was all over the kitchen floor.

The other guy and I took stock of the situation and immediately grabbed a pair of forks and squated on the floor and went to work. The ladies whoever stopped us. The girl who I was not dating was actually a rich upper west side girl (she had never taken the subway till that summer) "slumming" in the village, so she saw this as the excuse to whip out her mommy's "For emergencies only" credit card and bought us all chinese. To this day, I was still totally willing to eat the floor caserole.

Anyway, this classic by The Only Ones is sort of the Ur-text, along with "Lipstick" by the Buzzcocks, for a kind of punkish british power pop. To this day it's still a fairly amazing song, and has lost little of it's power.

Another Girl - The Beatles - Help! - 1965

So I was hanging with my friend Shani on Thursday night. We went to check out this new bar in her hood called The Richardson. Decent place, definitely knocking back the Rat Pack vibe with it's faux-loungey decor and jukebox that ends at 1962. It's the kind of place where you are going to spend $9 on an old fashioned, but the old fashioned will have real Agostino bitters and a freshly muddled cherry at the bottom.

Sadly, what Shani ensured me was a quiet bar on other nights was on that particular night swarmed with a party for Urban Outfitters, and it was at that moment that I remembered that I detest humanity. What exactly goes through people's brains that they think that working in the ad design department for a mildly trendy clothing chain in some way makes you the coolest person in the world? The level of pretention in the place was just ridiculous. Shani and I made it through about two drinks, during which time we had to shout most of our conversation, before we just grabbed her roommate and went back to her place, where the drinks were cheap, the music controlable, and the conversation could be had at a managible level.

This is the Beatles, so I'm not obligated to say anything at all. But I will say, this is the rare Beatles song that isn't simply etched into my brain. I actually don't even know the words to this one. How refreshing.

Another Fine Day - Golden Smog - Another Fine Day - 2006

I dearly loved Golden Smog's 1998 album Weird Tales, and their first record has its share of gems along with the dross. But by 2006 they primarily served as Gary Louris' band, like the Jayhawks Mark II...with the occassional cameo by Tweedy, just ensure that the band could keep it's "Super-band" status.

Having said all of that...this may be little more than a Jayhawks retread, but it's a fine Jayhawks retread with some effective ambient guitar and a decently catchy chorus. It's no "Until You Came Along" but it'll do.

Another Day - Times New Viking - Rip It Off - 2008

The other night I was looking for dinner in my hood. I wasn't really feeling like cooking, but all of my usual neighborhood options were not appealing to me. I was sort of wandering around aimlessly when I remembered that my ex-girlfriend (who still lives in the hood) had pointed out to me that there was a deli on her block that makes really good sandwiches. I decided to investigate.

The deli was small, and clearly existed only for it's sandwich counter, as there weren't many groceries on display. And behind the counter was a small Dominican kid with wire rimmed glasses. After a few seconds of watching me consider my sandwich options, he asked if I'd like a recommendation. I said "sure" and the kid went into his schpiel.

"First, you gotta go with the honey roasted turkey" He held up the turkey breast as evidence. "Then...you like swiss cheese."

"Sure"

"Then...I've got just the thing for you...we've got this Guryere...aged 9 months. This is the Swiss Cheese of swiss cheeses. You gotta try this....a little tomato, a little onion, maybe some deli mustard."

I told the kid to make it happen. He even gave me samples as he was slicing. In this city it's so easy to get used to people being churlish or curt with you. You become custom to everyone having a "what the fuck do you want?" attitude. Sometimes it's nice to be surprised by legitimate enthusiasm, and honest conneisuership.

And honestly, it was a great fucking sandwich.

Sadly, this song isn't as good...it's mostly just loud. But thankfully it's less than 2 minutes long.

Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd - The Wall - 1979

From 2000-2002 I worked for a small dot.com down in the financial district. Our boss/CEO was easily one of the most odd people I have ever encountered in my life. He was a former Israeli tank commander who kept photographs of the people he had killed on his desk. He was a rabid stoner, who would shut the door and smoke up in his office and then come out yelling and screaming that we weren't working hard enough. Despite having lived in this country for many years, his English was still awful and his spelling worse. I wrote most of his emails for him...and the ones I didn't write were nearly unreadable.

So one friday evening we were all sitting in his office with a six pack when he opened with one of his usual bizarre non-sequiters. He was speaking to the british salesman in our office and he says something to the effect of "Ehhhhhh (he always begin with a long "Eh") Chris! I feel bad for you British people...it's like, when you are school kids, ehhh, you have to walk into that thing that grinds you up. Makes you hamburger It seems very sad."

Now, to this day, I'm still not sure if he honestly believed that british school children had to walk into a meat grinder as part of some intiation, or if, he actually understood the metaphor (or even what a metaphor was) of the school system as part of british societies culture of repression but either way, it was an odd moment from an odd man.

Anon - Low - The Curtain Hits The Cast - 1996

"Anon" was actually the answer to a NY Times crossword puzzle question this week. "Soon, poetically" was the clue...I came through for my work crossword team on that one.

Low, being low.

Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne - 1993

I had to get up early this AM to make it in to work and prepare for a big meeting I was running for the first time, and it reminded me of a theory I've long had about the correlation between time and the amount of attractive women there are on the subway...(okay, I'm going back on the promise I made to my girlfriend about not writing about hot chicks ont the subway, but I'm letting myself slide on this one as I am not talking about a SPECIFIC hot chick on the subway, but rather hot chicks, or their scarcity, as a phenomenon). Basically the theory goes like this...despite all of our best intentions and desires for us to live in a better and egalatarian world, in New York, where absolutely everything is a competition, attractive women have first dibs on the jobs that start at 10AM. Granted, in many cases, these are lower paying publishing or media jobs...but none of this changes the fact that you will find almost no attractive women on the subway at 8AM. You will find a fair amount of large middle-aged women, and power-suited men...hot chicks, not so much.

No for those that wonder why I spend all this time thinking about this on my commute, instead of, you know...thinking about my job, praying/meditating, reading the great american (or otherwise) novel, sculpting...what have you. It's because, frankly, we all need inspiration to make it through the hellish and tedious slog we call life. And we all find inspiration in our own places.

Jay Farrar may have only had a brief window of inspiration: three or four years tops, but this song falls squarely in the middle of that window. So here's to you Jay, and a word of advice to you. Never ride the subway before 8:45.

Annie, Let's Not Wait - Guillemots - Through The Window Pane - 2006

As a man with a girl named Anne on his arm, I'm sort of predisposed to liking any song with her name in it...well, obviously minus "Annie's Song"...cause dear God, I'm not even diabetic, but exposure to that much saccherine would surely send me into some sort of coma. And with a title like that, it was really tempting to put it on during our early courtship period...but even aside of the obvious reasons, I really honestly like this song...and that's despite a number of things that I ordinarily wouldn't like: a children's choir, the sort of "world music" bass line, the tinkling piano riff, the general upbeat vibe of the song...but honestly. I just find if effective.

And, of course, my girlfriend...does not.

Ah well.

Annie - Elefant - Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid - 2003

So, I got a weird fever thing last week...no idea what it was or what it was from. No cough or respitory trouble, no, uh, "tummy trouble"...just a feeling that I was alternating between being absolutely freezing to death, and then 1/2 an hour later I'd be sweating so bad I thought I'd need to change my shirt. I had no energy at all, felt like my brain was in a fog, and I was treading through oatmeal. I went immediately home after work on Friday (surely a sign that something was wrong, if ever there was one) sat under 13 blankets, ate wonton soup, and watched Excalibur (which I got at Duane Reade for $4.99 that day). It felt like I was 10...and not in a good way.

Elefant is always going to sound like the skinniest hipster in the room circa 2003. You can almost hear the white jeans rubbing together as they play. But it isn't without it's charms.

Anna Maria - Peter and the Wolf - Lightness - 2006

So, I had a bit of a drink up with my main man, Anand last night and ended up crashing at a ridiculously early hour. I woke up about 1 and was grateful to discover that my girlfriend had left a glass of water, largely untouched, on the night stand from the night before.

Now granted, this glass of water had been sitting out for more than a day...and was certainly room temperature, even if it was a cool night, but at that moment, it was the best glass of water I'd ever had. It was like I was drinking from a river in Narnia or some shit. Really, seriously...amazing glass of water.

Anyway, this is that sort of...post Oh Brother, Where Art Though, intentionally old timey sounding stuff. It's a clever gimmick...but a gimmick nonetheless.

Anna Lee (Dressed In New Lightning) - Grey Revell - Crazy Like An Ambush - 1999

So my crazy subway preacher was back yesterday. I see him about once or twice a month...but yesterday was the first time he'd ever directly addressed me. I had my headphones on and was walking towards the back of the train before I realized that he was pacing and preaching. I quickly backed into a doorway, audibly saying "Oh Boy" as I did. This clearly drew his ire. And for the rest of his ride I became his example of "white people".

I felt like pointing out that I work for an African-American owned company, that my boss is a black man, that my roommate is a black man, and that this hardly makes me a good example of "The Man"...but I have enough crazy preachers in my family to know that you just don't engage them.

One woman on the train that got on at Borough Hall, during his rant about judges and lawyers, decided to engage him...this was a mistake. She tried the "I agree with you, but do we have to do this now" tactic...which was a mistake, but at least got him off my case.

Anyway, this song is nice enough...but the guitar bit sounds a lot like Mirah's "Archepeligo". And I don't know, the dude with an acoustic guitar thing only goes so far.

Animated Airplanes Over Germany - Superchunk - Here's Where The Strings Come In - 1995

I realized that I spent a lot of last week talking about 9/11...which is something I'm usually not given to do. Generally, I hate talking about it, and hate when I go home to Indiana that there is always some relative that wants to hear the story again...but it would be impossible to not talk about it in the context of this song.

Granted, this song was recorded a solid 6 years before those events, but it's hard to not see a weird reflection of them in the story of this song. Mac McCaughan has never been that much of a storyteller with his lyrics. He tends to write in impressionistic blurbs that paint a story in the details rather than in events. (Think of the way that a nation of kids took "Slack Motherfucker" as an anti-capitalist rant when in fact it was the opposite, a screed against a lazy co-worker)...but in this song the events are fairly concrete. A man is taking a flight over Europe, the plane starts to go down, the man picks up the phone in his seat and calls his wife/lover to say that he loves her one last time. The plane pulls out of the dive and the man thinks about his life and how close he came to losing it.

I also can't help but think about the person on the other end of that call. I think of the scene in David O Russell's Three Kings were Marky-mark calls home while he's chained up in an Iraqi prison. His wife is doing the dishes, tending to the baby, having a normal crappy day and having no idea how to respond to the fact that her husband is in so much more of a dramatic situation. Or for a more comedic example, there is John Landis' American Werewolf in London...when David Naughton, knowing that he's losing out to the wolf, calls home only to get his bratty 12 year old sister...who has no idea why her brother is tripping out and telling her he loves her. But with both of those scenes, and the scene depicted in this song, it's hard not to personalize it. To think of how confused and sad and horrified I'd be if my girlfriend called me to tell me that she loved me and that she'd be dead in a matter of seconds. Jesus.

Animals and Insects - The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart - 2003

I've only ever been to Montreal in August, but I can only imagine that this song is pretty good indicator of what the city must be like in the late fall/winter. There's just something about it that seems to evoke a day in which the sun sets at 3 in the afternoon and won't be back till 10 the next morning.

I don't know, it's been kind of a moody week for me in general...with all sorts of fun adult life stuff dropped into my lap. It would be really easy to sink into this mood, and with the sun setting earlier every day...SADD is only a month or so away. Ugghhhh.

Animals - Talking Heads - Fear of Music - 1979

Ok, so this track is completely fucked...and no, not in the way David Byrne/Brian Eno meant. More in the I illegally downloaded a shitty copy from the net and it doesn't work way.

Deleting

An Animal in Your Care - Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer - 2008

Well, I was hoping to make it to the "Anne's" today, since it is my six month anniversary with my lady friend...but I suppose this will do as a tribute.

Actually, it probably won't as we disagree on this song...oh, and also it seems to compare a dating relationship to owning a pet....but whatever.

But as with any of Spencer Krugs songs on the second WP album, the question is...does the song's strengths get drowned out in Krugs' idiosyncrasies. With this one in particular his vocal yelp is dialed down to a fairly manageable level, and as I said the lyrics, with it's comparison to the family dog as lover, are kinda fascinating. But most of all, it is the contrapuntal stomp that begins at 2:06 (nearly the exact midpoint of the song) that really brings the song home. It begins with a simple, almost Bach-ish piano line and slowly ads instruments to the rhythm until the band as a whole seems to be marching in step. Seeing it live certainly ads to the enjoyment of the song, as this outro section seems to boil over with tightly wound suspense.

Not my favorite song on Mt. Zoomer, but certainly one of the best.

Animal Farm - The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society - 1968

Last night, I met up with two of the guys I used to work with back in 2001. They are two of my best friends and I see them most weeks, so it's not like it was that rare of an event. But as we get older and our free time gets less, it is less often that the three of us hang out all together and without wives/girlfriends (in my case)/other friends present...and I think all three of us wanted a little moment. Much as we pretend to be gruff cynics...all of the reminders we got on the day couldn't help but make us think a bit about where we were 7 years ago.

At the end of a very very involved night of drinking, I split a cab back to Brooklyn with one of the two. Despite being in Alphabet City, we told the cab driver to take the battery tunnel so that we could swing down by the old site, where the twin light memorial was shining. We had lucked into a mini-van cab and it was definitely cool to lean back and look at the lights, with the moon caught between them, and think of happier times.

The Kinks knew a thing or two about Utopia...sadly, we seem further than ever from that kind of dream.

Animal - Def Leppard - Hysteria - 1987

I cannot even begin to tell you how much my entire 7th grade class loved this album. Little did we know that every single song on this album would one day be a stripper anthem.

Anhoi Polloi - Most Serene Republic - Phages EP - 2006

There is a story in the New Testament that most Christians with any basic knowledge probably know, but few think about the realities of. On the week before his crucifixion, Jesus comes to Jerusalem to celebrate passover with his disciples. He enters the temple and almost immediately flips his shit. In this place that is supposed to be sacred, he sees commerce. Money changers are exchanging Roman currency for Jewish, animals are being sold for sacrifice at outrageous rates.

Well, the big JC does not take kindly to this and kinda flips his shit. He goes around knocking over tables and grabs a bull whip and drives them from the temple. Most scholars, when attempting to assess the historicity of the Gospels believe this was probably the act that got the guy in trouble with the Romans in the first place.

Anyway, I give you this little bit of bible study knowledge cause it most accurately sums up my feelings about 9/11. Working in the financial district at the time...I saw the tables set up a mere week later. Tables selling hats, and pins and commemorative crap with the two towers and eagles and flags...while the smell of burning flesh hung in the air. It was in that moment, for one of the few times since I've been in NYC that the phrase "What Would Jesus Do" actually held meaning for me. I would have gladly driven the money changers from the temple...except there were all these dudes with machine guns everywhere.

Anyway, Most Serene Republic is like a knock-off Broken Social Scene...they do alright, but nowhere near as good as the original.

An Angry Blade - Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank The Cradle - 2002

Over the course of our lives, there are a handful of days that change our perceptions. Some we never see coming, the day we meet that special someone, or the day that someone decides to walk out on us, or the day that terrorist decide to drop plans into buildings.

But other days we know about, we know for a fact that these days will change our lives. Wedding days, graduations, the birth of children. The first Iron & Wine album always reminds me of one of those days. It was my 29th birthday, and I was standing on the steps of The Natural History Museum waiting for a girl I was starting to date. My birthday fell on a Monday, so the party had been the Friday before. I had just finished a one year freelance gig with an investment bank, and was preparing to go to Europe for the first time with the money I'd saved. I'd shaved off a beard and gotten my hair cut.

My world was about to change, both for better and for worse...and it was an odd feeling, liberating and exhilirating. And I knew I'd never have another one quite like it.

Angry Angel - Imogen Heap - I, Megaphone - 1998

Man, chicks were really pissed in the nineties.

Imogen Heap back when she was still trying to be P.J. Harvey, rather than Bjork.

(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes - Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True - 1977

You know it's really easy to think of Elvis Costello as a punk. He certainly had the attitude and came out of the same scene...but with the passing of time, it's easy to see past the attitude and the clever lyrics and see how in line with his contemporaries in the AOR scene. Often I'll listen to My Aim Is True and think "Wow, he sounded so much like Springsteen".

And everytime I hear the intro to this song? I think I'm about to hear a Tom Petty song. I mean sure, they both owe a debt to Roger McGuinn...but it's taken the passing of time to realize that they were cut from the same cloth. Yet try telling that to my fifty year old "rock and roll" uncle who loves Petty and dispises Costello as a wussy british dork in nerd glasses.

Great story about this...my uncle went to go see John Cougar Mellencamp in Indianapolis in the late 70's...he walked out of the concert because he couldn't stand the opening act...who was...Elvis Costello. This of course raises the bigger point, what the fuck was Elvis Costello doing opening up for Mellencamp (Back when he was Johnny Cougar) in Indianapolis?

Angels vs Aliens - Mogwai - Ten Rapid - 1997

Ok, so here is the thing that never made sense to me: you can't feed the Mogwai after midnight...but until when? Dawn? 7AM? 9AM? Is there some kind of Mogwai clock?

Also, if a drop of water made them multiply, what did they drink? Was it just water that produced this response. What if you dropped some Jameson's on them, would you get drunk and surly Gremlins (Suddenly the Leprechaun films make more sense...yes even Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Da Hood). Were Mogwai in fact the only non-water based life form around? Or was the reason the other Mogwai wanted to turn into Gremlins just cause they were freaking thirsty?

Continuing on this line of thinking...the title of this song also suggests a new film franchise to me. Now that the Alien has succesfully faced off against The Predator, perhaps they need to take a shot at God's messengers. Angels vs Aliens: This time it's Holy War! I'm thinking the Rock as Michael the Angel general, with Vin Diesel as Gabriel, and Samuel L. Jackson as God. And of course, as always, James Earl Jones as the voice of the magic taco.

Thoughts for the ages.

The Angels of Sleep - Portastatic - A Slow Note From A Sinking Ship - 1995

When I was a little kid I used to try and catch my guardian angel. As a pre-schooler I had been subject to really traumatic nightmares. So, my sweet, caring, hopelessly naive grandmother had convinced me that I had a guardian angel watching over me and keeping me safe at night. This is probably what led to my weird religious phase.

But anyway, I believed that every time I closed my eyes the angel would appear...so I'd spend hours laying in bed trying to suddenly open my eyes in the hopes of catching the angel off guard. Two things about this story, first of all it speaks to the human need to prove that there is something beyond our experience in the world...that we are constantly looking for some proof that there is still some magic left in this science based world of ours...even when all signs point to there being very little.

And secondly, what kinda second-rate slacker-ass angel did I think I had if I thought it could be punked by a 7 year old boy. Clearly I already had shitty self-esteem if even my imaginary guardian angel was a fuck-up.

Anyway, here's the mighty Mac McCaughan (if you haven't noticed, the man is one of my personal heroes) with one of his earlier, low-fi Portastatic tracks, letting the quality of the song overcome the production, the playing, his nasal voice, etc...and still being absolute gem.

The Angels Share - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Shake The Sheets - 2004

I am such a gigantic fan of Ted Leo's The Tyranny of Distance that the downfall he's taken into didactic political screacher is an increasingly difficult burden to bear. Don't get me wrong, I agree with most of his politics...that's the problem. It's preaching to the choir. I doubt there are many Ted Leo fans out there who think that us being in Iraq is a good idea, or that have no problem with the damage that W has done to The Constitution...so why the hell is Ted screaming about it?

On TToD Ted was a tuneful songsmith, singing intelligently about relationships and the trials of adulthood. I miss that guy.

Having said all of that, The Angel's Share is one of the better of Ted's political songs.

Angelita - Jon Auer - Songs from the Year of Our Demise - 2006

So I hosted a party at my apartment this weekend, and made the cardinal mistake of any party host. I got drunk too fast.

See, I had started early, giving myself a little boost while I cooked and cleaned. Then my roommate was trying to perfect his Mojito recipe...and obviously that required some taste tests and few different variations. Then there was the shot of whiskey that had to be done when the party started. Then I started drinking the communal punch (the Grape Drink, the alleged purpose for the party) when the first guest arrived. Next thing I know, I realize that I'm kinda woozy and there was a very real chance that I would in fact be that drunk guy stumbling over furniture, spilling drinks, grabbing boobs that I really shouldn't grab...fortunately I was able to pull up my Irish powers to keep my shit together long enough to find my bearings, and fortunately only my closest friends noticed that I kept going to the bathroom to splash water on my face. The lesson has been learned....next time, I will be better prepared.

Anyway, this is Jon Auer doing his post-Posies thing....which is surprisingly AOR, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Angeles - Elliot Smith - Either/Or - 1997

My Elliot Smith equation is pretty close to the same as my Decemberists equation, except you replace "Gay Subtext" with "Sad Sack Whining"

And in that equation, this song has a pretty high annoyance qoutient.

Angel, Won't You Call Me - The Decemberists - 5 Songs EP - 2003

So, I have a relatively simple equation that goes into play to judge how much I like/dislike a Decemberists song. The equation looks something like this:

(Quirky Schtick - Actually Clever Lyrics) * Gay (literally) Subtext/Catchy Melody. You take the result of that and multiply by the square root of how much Colin Meloy's voice annoys you. If the result is relatively low, then you can probably stand the song.

I tend to like the Five Songs EP because it occurs so early in the bands career...before they were completely sure they could get away with the schtick. Meloy keeps it to a minimum. It really only pops out on My Mother Was A Chinese Trapeeze Artist and The Apology Song. The Gay subtext is non-existant, and the clever lyrics/catchy melody quotient is pretty high.

This certainly isn't my favorite song on the album, but it's not bad either.

Also, if you have the time, I've added a "Followers" link and a "Subscribe to my blog" link to the page. Since I have no idea if anyone actually reads this, feel free to let me know you're there.

The Angel With Good News - Zumpano - Goin' Through Changes - 1996

I was coming home from a birthday dinner at a Mexican place in my hood last night, when I saw something that basically proved that humanity lives for Schadenfreude. Walking down Union St. I saw a middle aged balding man in sweat pants and a t-shirt awkwardly carrying a deli bag in one hand and a granny cart in the other. As he was walking it was clear that he was either crazy, drunk, or having an exceptional bad day that was effecting his public composure. He seemed to have trouble carrying his two belongings, and he was continually muttering in an angry whisper at whatever boogie monsters he was seeing.

As he walked, he was attempting to unfold the granny cart and the handle got snagged on his pants. All the sudden the baggy sweat pants were around his ankles. Thankfully he was wearing boxers. But instead of the obliviousness you usually get from the half naked crazies in the city, he was totally mortified. He immediately dropped everything and started struggling to pull up his pants, but whatever condition he was suffering some made this extremely difficult. He pulled at his sweats while the angry mutters of "Ohhh geez, ohhhh man" got louder.

We were probably less than 10 feet behind him when it happened, and 3 of the 5 people in our party were lovely young women, which probably did not help his extreme embarrasment. We did our best to make it to the other side of before we burst out into laughter...but I had to think he heard us.

Anyway, due to the coincidences of song titles, I've already had plenty of opportunity to complain about what I a disappointingly limp album I find The New Pornographer's Challengers to be...but it was not completely unprecedented. The second Zumpano album was something of a disappointment to those that loved the bouyancy of the first. Songs like The Angel With Good News might have pleased the fans who wanted Zumpano to persue its more Harry Nilson/Burt Bacharach vibes...but for those of us who loved the power pop drive of the first album, it was, with a few exceptions, something of a snooze fest. This song is a prime example of said snooze fest.

Do

Aneurysm - Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit B-side - 1991

The other version of this song. Only slightly different, but worth having.

Aneurysm - Nirvana - Incesticide - 1992

Because I am a big enough music nerd to do things like this, I have often looked up the lyrics to certain songs that were hard to understand...only to find that what I thought were the lyrics were in fact, not the lyrics. Sure, that's not an uncommon experience...but what's especially disappointing is when I like my misunderstood lyrics better than the actual lyrics. With Cobain's distinctive delivery style, Nirvana has always been a treasure trove for misunderstood lyrics. But none have disappointed me quite like this one.

For most of my life (well since 1992) I have thought that the lyrics at the end of this song were "She keeps a puppet string to my heart" which is a great metaphor! And it's particularly apt, if you apply it to the facts of Cobain's life. Sadly, the lyrics are actually "She keeps it pumping straight to my heart" which sounds rather like the lyrics from the song in a Mountain Dew commercial.

Why must all my heroes disappoint me? Why God, why?!?

Anecdote - Ambulance LTD - LP - 2004

In some ways it's ridiculous to think that 2004 was all that long ago...but on the other hand, when I think of the things that have occurred since then: Most of one presidential term, yet another election build up, yet another olympics, yet another leap year...I'm two apartments and two women further down the road (and let's not count the birthdays)...and perhaps more tellingly, we are closer to 2010 now than we are the 90's.

I suppose the irony is that I have no Anecdote to tell about Anecdote...mostly just that it made me think of sitting in my room in my apartment back in Greenpoint in 2004. The song just sounds like that year.