76. ABBA - "Knowing Me Knowing You" (Polydor, 1977)
I searched for like five minutes because I could have sworn I've already written about ABBA, but I guess that's just the false memory of something I should have done long ago and not gotten around to yet. Anyways, here they are at number 76: one of the great bands ever, one of the things my parents always loved that I had no idea I would come to love so much. ABBA were every bit as great at writing about complex, grown-up emotions as they were at writing giant pop hooks (PS they were absolutely top of the heap at both). I don't think I know any better songs about being resigned to the end of a relationship, certainly not a better sounding one. The chorus is triumphant, but it's not an example of the happy music/sad lyrics trope, it's genuinely celebrating the moment of realization that something is over and how important that moment is to moving on.
ABBA's maximalism delivers musically not only because of their indelible hooks but also because of how they're produced. Even when there is a lot going on (which is most of the time), very little is muddled or lost in the production. So when something magical happens, like when the keyboard joins the guitar a few measures into an after-chorus solo, you can't help but hear and be wowed by it. The hooks pop, which I guess is exactly what pop hooks are supposed to do.
98. the Buzzcocks - "Orgasm Addict" (United Artists, 1977)
"Orgasm Addict" is one of the funniest and best rock and roll songs ever brought to usby our friends from Great Britain. The breathing, the rising vocals before the bridge: all perfect. And the bridge, a list of people that the subject has "made out" with that starts out with "school kids, winos, and heads of state" and only gets better from there, is simply one of the finest lyrics ever sung.
106. Teengenerate - "My GTO" (from the Let's Go to the Hop EP, Sympathy for the Record Industry, 1996)
I found this somewhere on the internet in my early days of finding music off the internet and I break it out once in a while when I'm in the mood to pretend I'm driving real fast or, more likely, that I'm getting that abstract rush that comes with driving real fast but could, hypothetically, come from other things too. Apparently the band is Japanese, though I didn't realize that until about two minutes ago when I looked up when and where this song is from. I have no clue why, but certain songs I love and cherish without feeling any inclination to learn any more about the artists that wrote and performed them.
Also, I have no idea what any of the lyrics to this song (besides "My GTO," "come on," "that's right," and "she..." are).
"we could live for a thousand years, but if I hurt you, I'll make wine for your tears
I've been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to make sense of that "but"; maybe trying to offer up one of my usual creative misreadings or something. But it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make any sense. The potentially unusual lifespan of our characters seems to have very little to do with the wine bit, unless it's a riff on aging and wine, but then while an "and" would make some semblance of sense the "but" still doesn't. This song is soaring and anthemic and wonderful and impossible not to sing along to, though.
134. Michael Jackson - "Off the Wall" (Epic, 1979)
This is a smooth little disco number and it prolly has my favorite intro of any MJ song. It's like a coven of party people beckoning you to party. And that ties into what I think is interesting about the lyrics, which is that "Off the Wall" is sung explicitly from the point of view not of a person about to get off work and go party, but rather from someone that parties "night and day". The singer is not a character to identify with, he's beckoning you, the regular working shmoe, to this land of debauchery and luxury. And I totally wanna go, obviously.
137. the Jackson 5 - "the Love You Save" (Motown, 1970)
Lyrically, the whole song hinges on Michael's first lines after the first chorus. Before them (or without them), the song is about how a girl (or girls) should be chaste, but no! You sneaky Jacksons, you, you don't want girls to save themselves period, you want them to save themselves for you! You shouldn't get with that dude, girl, cuz you'll seem kinda slutty, which totally won't happen if you get with me.
It's not that attractive of a sentiment, you know, but they're kids and, let's be serious, it's the performances and melody that are relevant here, not the lyrics. Song's like helicopter blades of sunshine.
141. Rocketship - "I Love You Like the Way I Used to Do" (from the A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness album, Slumberland Records, 1996)
I certainly wouldn't bet on any other Slumberland records appearing on this countdown, but sometimes even yr boy enjoys some sweet twee loving. The swirling guitars on this track set it apart and raise it well above the thousands of other 90s indie songs with the word "hug" in the lyrics.
We've made it past the halfway mark on this countdown which, as with all milestones, is much further than I expected to get. Holler holler holler.
151. Dirt McGirt - "Pop Shit (ft. Pharrell)" (from the The Neptunes Present... Clones comp, Star Trak Entertainment, 2003)
This is easily one of my favorite ODB tracks and it comes from the back end of a Neptunes comp. The beat isn't even particularly special by Neptunes standards, y'kno, but the verses and chorus are so crazy that he could prolly be rapping over late-era N*SYNC JT beatboxing and it would still be fly as hell.
Dirty just goes off here. His flow, delivery, and lyrics all sound as far out as ten years before, maybe even moreso. The lines "Follow dirty, I'm the way out/catch bitches like trout, gettin' drunk off stout" are straight up some of my favorite rhymes anyone has ever spit. The combination of messianic insanity, oddly specific simile, and booze there gets me every time. Dude was absurd on record in the best way possible.
So Dylan's the great lyricist, sure, wonderful, but besides the great image of "the lonesome organ grinder" crying and, of course, the repetitive chorus of "I want you (3x) so bad," the lyrics in this song don't mean all that much to me. It's the melodies and the hooks. The organ and guitars interweaving, calling and answering both each other and the vocals. That little "doo, doo-doo" thing that the organ does during the bridge. (Is that even an organ? I feel like a dummy identifying instruments sometimes). Instrumentally, this is amazing pop, catchy and memorable at every turn. The fact that it has Bob Dylan Lyrics is, for me, an afterthought.
168. The-Dream - "Take U Home 2 My Mama" (from the Love vs. Money album, Radio Killa/Def Jam, 2009)
The first 2009 inclusion on our magic 303 is "Take U Home 2 My Mama", at this point an album track from Dreamer's amazing Love vs. Money. Let's just list:
- "Man, I'm trying to get a ten/you better be the shit" = Dream's 2007 song "Shawty is the Shit", the edited version of which was "Shawty is a Ten". The backing vocals even sing "or you better be the shit".
- The imagery of Dream actually running out of the V.I.P., his eyes all buggin out cartoon style is awesome. Also, V.I.P. being seemingly shortened to "V.I.", but then kind of completed by the next word starting with a 'P'. This maybe looks more obvious on paper than in song, but it works for me.
- The backup vocals again: "cuz I'm already gone (cuz I'm already neeeaaww)". Obvi can't do that sound he makes justice.
- Obviously the post-chorus bit (or whatever, there are like 8 bits that could describe). I mean the "titties" line, which for those who haven't clicked the YouTube yet basically goes "her titties like wooo-oooo-ooooh/her booty like wooo-oooo-ooooh," where the second "wooo-oooo-ooooh" sounds slightly different, with some kind of filter. Anyways, it'll prolly be hard to convince you that a line with the word "titties" is a Great Lyric, but it sounds and works soooo well that I've been singing it out loud non stop. Honestly, it relays the feeling of seeing someone really attractive while drunk as well as any lyric before it.
- It's my favorite song on what is, after two months of listening to it, sooo easily my favorite album of the year and shaping up to be one of my favorites of the decade.
- The melody and arrangement is the happiest shit ever.
172. Lifter Puller - "Lonely in a Limousine" (from the Fiestas + Fiascos album, The Self-Starter Foundation, 2000) 173. the Hold Steady - "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" (from the Separation Sunday album, Frenchkiss Records, 2005) 174. Lifter Puller - "To Live and Die in LBI" (from the Half-Dead and Dynamite album, Reckless, 1996) 175. Lifter Puller - "Back in Blackbeard" (from the Might as Well... Can't Dance compilation, Adeline Records, 2000) 176. the Hold Steady - "You Can Make Him Like You" (from the Boys and Girls in America album, Vagrant Records, 2006) 177. Lifter Puller - "11th Avenue Freezeout" (from the Soft Rock compilation, the Self Starter Foundation, 2002) 178. the Hold Steady - "Positive Jam" (from the Almost Killed Me album, Frenchkiss Records, 2004) 179. Lifter Puller - "Touch My Stuff" (from the Fiestas + Fiascos album, The Self-Starter Foundation, 2000) 180. Lifter Puller - "The Pirate and the Penpal" (from the Twin Town High Music Yearbook Vol. 2: 1998-1999 compilation, Digital Edison, 1999) 181. the Hold Steady - "Modesto Is Not That Sweet (acoustic)" (unreleased?) 182. Lifter Puller - "Nice, Nice" (from the Fiestas + Fiascos album, The Self-Starter Foundation, 2000) 183. the Hold Steady - "Cattle and the Creeping Things" (from the Separation Sunday album, Frenchkiss Records, 2005) 184. Lifter Puller - "Half Dead and Dynamite" (from the Half-Dead and Dynamite album, Reckless, 1996) 185. the Hold Steady - "Slapped Actress" (from the Stay Positive album, Vagrant Records, 2008) 186. Lifter Puller - "Sherman City" (from the Half-Dead and Dynamite album, Reckless, 1996)
And you thought I was a Mountain Goats fanboy.
I put on Separation Sunday today and I realized that I've been putting off this post long enough and got to it. Craig Finn, formerly of the mighty Lifter Puller and currently of beer-case shredders the Hold Steady is probably my favorite lyricist and one who is lucky enough to have had two bands good enough to make his lyrics actually matter. In Half-Dead and Dynamite, Fiestas + Fiascos, and Separation Sunday he's been behind three of the best rock albums of the past two decades. His lyrics tick all the right boxes I always go for. Booze, check. Intertextuality, check. Specificity, check. So here's a selection of my favorite Lftr Pllr and Hold Steady songs in a convenient playlist and, why not, some more of my bullshit.
When I started listening to Lifter Puller they had already been broken up for a few years. I was in high school and somehow hadn't discovered the glory of alcohol yet (amazing as it sounds, I went through high school sober), but I figured that, man, these Lifter Puller kids sure would be a good soundtrack if I ever did choose a life of booze and drugs. These are the type of things my stupid high-school ass thought. Let's move on.
There are two major differences between Lifter Puller and the Hold Steady. The lyrical on is the amount of religious imagery in Hold Steady songs. There's a lot. The more important and obvious one is musical. The Hold Steady is slightly reconfigured classic rock, huge guitar solos, piano accompaniment, Thin Lizzy riffs and Springsteen movements. Lifter Puller is aggression with the occasional groove, the occasional mathy drum part, the occasional out-of-nowhere chord switch. But they both work exceedingly well as a background to Finn's barking, occasionally apoplectic delivery.
And the lyrics that delivery delivers are probably the best thing about these bands, so let's get to em. The characters are largely lowlifes doing lowlife things, grasping at fleeting glories and sinking into despair but mostly just living their sometimes fucked-up lives. Some characters run through Lifter Puller's whole discography: chief among them Night Club Dwight, a drug dealer/club owner/businessman whose club is eventually burned down (or is it) at the end of Fiestas + Fiascos and Jenny, a sorority girl who goes to the city and starts partying hard. "I never saw the sun rise, until I met all you guys," she says on "Back in Blackbeard". There's Juanita and the eyepatch guy. In the Hold Steady we get Hallelujah and Gideon.
The intertextuality: there are writers (Berryman) and TV shows (the Rockford Files) and actors (Gazarra/Rowlands) and bible verses (a ton of them) but there are tons and tons of other bands and songs. The awkward high school girl in "the Pirate and the Penpal" gets hope from Dinosaur Jr. guitars. The debauchery in "To Live and Die in LBI" is soundtracked by 2 Live Crew. In "Sherman City", the narrator tells Juanita things that "sound the way that James Brown sings the 'Sex Machine'". Finn writes fantastic characters, really he builds fantastic worlds out of these characters and the very specific places they inhabit (geography is an obsession).
It took me more than a year of living on the East Coast to figure out what "Peter Pan-ed into NYC" meant and I laughed to myself when I got it. Finn's lyrics don't require research (or obsession), but I think they reward it. Which is not to say they aren't also great pop, and great stand alone songs. "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" is on the Hold Steady's strictest concept album, but even it stands wonderfully as a catchy, meaningful pop song. I suppose I'm being kind of a dolt in highlighting the references and recurring characters. They're really not the main reason to listen this stuff. Let's start over.
Among many of the magical qualities of Pop is the ability to make you feel things through bullshit that complete strangers sing, complete strangers who sometimes are nothing like you as far as attitude, demographics, or whatever, and are singing about characters who are nothing like you as far as attitude, demographics, or whatever. I think that more often than not Lifter Puller and the Hold Steady both connect with me. The narrator in "Modesto Is Not That Sweet" is a prick, sure, and is saying "I told you so" more than anything, but there's the part of him that still cares that is heartbreaking. And the folks running from the Nice Nice when it gets raided make me want to run with them. And the takedown of nostalgia in "Positive Jam" is thrilling. And the self-destruction in "To Live and Die in LBI" does seem kinda fun, and that doesn't mean it's being glorified, and "Feels great! Gonna dance all the way to the ending" is a perfect way to end that song.
I just really like these songs is all.
(PS, Fiestas + Fiascos and the Soft Rock, a collection of most of Lifter Puller's non-F+F material, are available at Amazon MP3. However, their official site seems to indicate that there is an Antology(!) and a book(!!) coming out this year. Stay tuned)
If you haven't downloaded the mix from the post below this one, well, I'm pretty sure it singlehandedly willed the weather in NYC to actually be Springy. Not sayin' just sayin'. Anyways, here we go.
204. the Mountain Goats - "Pure Milk" (from the Hot Garden Stomp album, Shrimper Records, 1993)
There's tape hiss, booze, violent fantasy, less the wholesome characters; a lot of things the Mountain Goats cover often and well. And then there's "put your hand on the god damn radio", which I think is one of the best hooks John Darnielle's ever written and gets stuck in my head all the time.
I think of hooks more as musical than lyrical things, usually, but the Mountain Goats are a great example of a band that uses its lyrics (in addition to the music, obviously) to get songs stuck in your head. I don't think there's all that much in the melody of the way John sings "put your hand on the goddamn radio" that makes it a great pop hook, but the phrase in the context of the song (and in itself, really) for some reason seems to me so goddamn cool that I find myself singing it in my head and out loud often. Catchy lyrics, I guess.
