A Christmas miracle--only one day late!
My introduction to this week's tune--as it has numerous times before here on Friday Night Jukebox--came when my daughter sent me a copy of this week's album after I had told her how much I enjoyed the Greatest Hits CD she'd sent me earlier from this week's artist. Turned out to be a great record--I listened to it for months driving back and forth from my home and Warren, MI where the tail end of my career in retail management had taken me....
I wrote about Uncle Tupelo in Jukebox XL (akin to last week more than four hundred FNJ posts ago), and like last week's post, I'm happy with the brief bio I wrote and don't have anything to add...other than to say how much I still enjoy listening to Uncle Tupelo. One hell of a short-lived band.
"Sandusky" was the second to last track on their third studio album, the rather timely titled March 16-20, 1992. The song was not released as a single, and though the album sold more than their first two studio efforts combined, did not chart either.
Fun Fact: The album was named for the five days the band recorded it--and it's absolutely amazing to me how they managed to put together such a tremendous record in so little time.
Fun Fact #2: The album was produced by Peter Buck of REM fame. Buck let the band members stay at his house while recording the album so as to save money for the studio recording fees.
Jeff Tweedy said that "Sandusky" was the track he was most proud of and that the band created it in a collaborative effort while in the studio. He also described the song as beautiful--and I think his description nailed it. The song is a simple instrumental: it's basically an acoustic guitar with a banjo providing the backing vocals (so to speak), and the softly stated drums capturing the subtle nuances of its hopeful core (all of the instruments are played exquisitely). For whatever reason, the song has always seemed to me to be the soundtrack for having survived some sort of tribulation and watching it in the rearview as you move on with your life. As an F.Y.I., I have absolutely no idea why Sandusky (assuming it's named for the city of Sandusky, Ohio) was chosen as the title. The city (famed for being the home of the amusement park Cedar Point) is believed to be named for a Wyandot word meaning water (it sits on Lake Erie), so maybe that holds a clue. No matter--it's a moment where a band came together and created a little folk magic...and the world is always a better place with a little folk magic.
Enjoy:
Republicans = Nazis
Peace,
emaycee
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