A lot of times when I run I listen to full albums. I try to choose albums I know well so I can sing along in my head and pay less attention to the fact that I’m (usually) bored shirtless. I rarely compile elaborate mixes of songs intended to spur speed bursts or keep a certain pace. I’m too lazy for that. The only times I ever mix up what I’m listening to is during my cool-down walk at the end of each run. There’s always that mile walk back to my house from the park up the hill. On speed days (when I just run as hard as I can as long as I can) I’ll cool down listening to Stars of the Lid or Slowdive. On other days, I’ll cycle through my iPod and search for different songs. It varies day-to-day, but most often I’m just searching for really good songs. Something that’ll compliment the natural high which comes from running 10-15 miles. Good songs. Great songs. Songs that move me. Songs I wish I’d written.
Now, don’t quote me on this. This isn’t the end-all-and-be-all of my favorite songs. These aren’t the TOP TEN songs I wish I’d written. They are simply ten songs I’ve heard lately which have made me wish I had written them. Got it? Good. Let’s do this.
Ten Songs I Wish I’d Written (Part 1)
• Pinebender – There’s A Bag Of Weights In The Back Of My Car – The first two Pinebender LPs (Things Are About To Get Weird, The High Price Of Living Too Long With A Single Dream) both open with excruciatingly slow, drawn-out intros. They’re usually a couple notes played laboriously until the band explodes into their patented slow-n-loud sound. I think I read an interview once where they said the average BPM of their songs was 58. Those who have had the great displeasure of listening to songs I’ve written would likely note that I have a tendency to produce laconic (in both music and lyrics) songs, most of which crawl along slow enough to incense fans of pop songs. I wrote a song called “Countess” Five or six years ago, and in hindsight I’d call it my most Pinebender-ish song. It consisted of four notes, went on for eight minutes, and opened with an entirely-too-long intro. Just like There’s A Bag Of Weights In The Bak Of My Car.
• The New Year – Reconstruction – Fantastic lyrics, angular guitar melodies, slow-building intensity, and Chris Brokaw’s unchanging rolling drum beat combine to form what is arguably Matt Kadane’s greatest accomplishment as a songwriter. I would not argue. I think it is his best work. The music reflects the title in that layers of guitars in the latter half of the song literally reconstruct the initial melody, building something heavier, harder-edged (well, as hard-edged as The New Year gets…) and moodier. At the outset the narrator boasts that he is happy where he is, but he eventually concludes that this initial assessment was incorrect. From “This is where I belong” to “All I know is that I don’t belong” in three simple verses. Terse, moving and beautifully composed, it’s a true songwriting accomplishment.
• Elliott Smith – Last Call – Roman Candle isn’t often regarded as Smith’s finest album. The title track seems to generate a good number of accolades, but for the most part the album is looked over as the budding genius’ basement four-track recordings; it foreshadowed the greatness that was to come when Smith would inevitably enhance the production value of his albums. Still, Roman Candle’s penultimate track, Last Call, has and will always be my favorite song of his. The lyrics are seething with anger. There’s an inexplicable shift in perspective halfway through the song. The part that always gets me is the repeated mantra at the end of the song, “I wanted her to tell me that she would never wake me.” When I was in college I tacked it onto the end of a song of mine called “Crystal Ball” at a show and of course no one recognized it.
• Abilene – Fellini – I’ve often been quoted (by myself) as stating that a trumpet can either kill your band or make your band. Most of the time it’s total crap, but some well-timed horn blasts (see: Abilene, Calexico, et. al.) can turn an otherwise decent song into something memorable. Fred Erskine’s trumpet parts on Two Guns, Twin Arrows slay — there’s no better descriptor, sorry. Abilene songs are way more aggressive than anything I’ve ever composed, but there’s a math-y-ness and circularity to the progressions that feels similar to patterns I’ve played around with in the past. More than the music, the album’s — and this song in particular — lyrics baffle me in the greatest way possible. What the fuck is Alex Dunham talking about? “Your facades have passed you by / Flight the fight / Bilk and run / No ardor inside / Go to hell to hide.” Huh!? And yet…so utterly awesome. The whole album reads like sputtered/shouted Mekong Delta Blues, only twenty billion times better.
• Harry Nilsson – I’ll Never Leave You – I’m a not-at-all-accomplished pianist, but I’ve been working on trying to figure this song out on my own (I can’t read music). Hey, it worked with that Tears For Fears song that was my go-to “Oh hi pretty girl look at me I can play piano!” pick-up trick in high school. Nilsson albums tend to have a lot of filler, but Nilsson Schmilsson seems to be the most listenable of his records. By the way, has anyone else on the Internet ever thoroughly investigated and reported on the insane similarities between Nilsson songs and Elliott Smith songs? Tell me you can’t picture Elliott Smith playing/singing this. It would fit perfectly on XO or Figure 8.
• Low – Soon – I remember the first time I heard Secret Name this song actually gave me chills. Especially the midsection with the drums and strings. I thought it was the most brooding, intense song that was left off the self-titled Velvet Underground record. The lyrics are equally minimalist and perhaps (like Last Call) more bitter (or biting?) than they sound. “Soon it will be over / I laughed under my breath over your shoulder / There’s a message out tonight / Nobody’s looking at the sky.” Sounds angry. Of course, knowing Low it’s probably a metaphor for Mormonism and I’m a fucking retard for not recognizing it.
• Teenbeaters – Stupid Bitch / Whores With Disease – My copy of Zam’s post-My World My Sky demo calls this song Stupid Bitch, but the band’s 2001 demo CD calls it Whores With Disease. Either way, it’s awesome. Love the open, “Stupid bitch I read your mind / From right to left like Chinese / You think you’re smart but you’re so blind / That’s why you’re sick with disease.” Is that Liad on the barely-noticeable keyboards in the background? Maybe he could shed some light on this track…I’ll have to ask him. Either way, it’s about as good as the Teenbeaters got, and they were a fucking incredible rock band. The fact that their recorded output is not more-widely recognized is criminal.
Have you noticed these descriptions are getting shorter and shorter? This shit is taking way too long. I just want to stop here but I feel obligated to finish the post before I do something productive with my day.
• Bark Psychosis – Eyes & Smiles – You can’t really rip off Talk Talk because Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock were the result of perfect conditions inside the studio when they were recorded. BUT Bark Psychosis (who I like to say pick up where Talk Talk left off — it’s kind of a backhanded compliment I guess) would be a bit more manageable. As good as Hex is…well…alright, I’ll say it: Eyes & Smiles is so obviously an attempt to recreate the Talk Talk sound. Little known fact (or not little known depending on your level of nerdiness) the phrase “post-rock” first appeared in Simon Reynolds’ review of Hex. Take that, Slint!
• Unwound – Corpse Pose – Really? A song about Yoga? Ha! By the way, these guys were totally underrated as lyricists! “Sleeping is believing, breathing is deceiving” and “The drawback to living is finding yourself” are but two of the excellent lines penned by Unwound that so often are lost in Vern’s booming baselines and Justin’s razor-sharp guitar sound. And Sara’s drums, of course. How amazing is Sara Lund as a drummer, by the way? Corpse Pose is Unwound at its best.
• Townes Van Zandt – Rake – You were probably expecting me to say Waiting Around To Die because of my not-so-secret secret addiction to painkillers, but you’d be wrong. Rake is simply put one of my favorite songs of all time. Townes was an accomplished guitarist and his compositions are usually flawless, so when I look for a favorite song of his I’m compelled to go by lyrics, and Rake is magnificent. I’m not going to waste time typing them all out for you because there are so many perfect lines in this song i’d wind up just copying and pasting the entire song. Leonard Cohen is to me the best songwriter who has ever lived, unparalleled by anyone else, and Rake is — to me — on par with anything Cohen’s written. That’s how good it is.
