Mama, here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws

208. Songs: Ohia - "the Farewell Transmission" (from the Magnolia Electric Co. album, Secretly Canadian, 2003)

For those waiting for some sprawling country-rock on this countdown, against all odds, somehow you've got it. In context and title, this song is a good gag in that it is a) the first song on an album and b) the first song on the last album by Jason Molina as Songs: Ohia, before he starts a project named after the title of the last Songs: Ohia album. So that's pretty funny.

As for the song itself, I actually haven't been that into Molina's work, but he kills it on this one. The music strikes, for me, the perfect balance between melancholy and triumph that a Midwestern boy such myself feels while saying goodbye to the love of his life, leaving his small town, and driving off into the uncertain night with only $30, the clothes on his back, and his beat-up Cadillac (trust me, I've done this several times). But unlike most such narratives, which are rather selfish, solipsistic you could even say if you said those types of things, this one gets a few "we"s in there and Molina sings, "we will be gone, but not forever." Ya hear that friends? (We might be back, but I assure you, our return will cause problems).