Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLX--Meaghan Smith: Poor

This week's tune is a study in perseverance--I originally heard the song at work, spent nearly a year plugging in lyrics to Google with no luck (would have really helped if I'd known the chorus was "Baby we ain't poor" instead of the mistaken "Baby we ain't fools") until one day , lo and behold, it appeared in the search.  Hallelujah I love her so....

Meaghan Smith is decidedly not a mega selling artist.  Of her three LPs and two EPs, exactly one has charted--it was her latest album and it didn't exactly rip up the charts in her native Canada (she's had but a whimper here in the states).  She did, however, manage to win a Juno Award (Canada's Grammys) for best new artist in 2011.  Other than that, there really isn't much to be said of her career other than if you're an aficionado of Christmas music her song "It Snowed" is absolutely delightful and has become one of my yuletide favorites over the past couple of holidays.

Fun Fact:  Smith did a cover version of the Pixies' classic "Here Comes Your Man" (well worth a listen--here) for the soundtrack of the film (500) Days of Summer, for which she played an omnichord.  Yeah, I had to look it up, too--it's basically an electronic accordion if you ask me....

Released in 2009 on her whimsically titled LP, The Cricket's Orchestra, "Poor" was never released as a single, but if you're a regular shopper at any number of retail outlets (Kroger, Meijer, Target, et al) there's a good chance you've heard it since it's in the regular rotation of piped in music at any number of big box retailers.  I read a review of the album, and the reviewer said it was obvious that her label was trying to turn her into the next Norah Jones which, surprisingly enough, wasn't all that obvious to me.  If I had to compare Smith, I'd say she's more like Rickie Lee Jones' extremely dorky younger sister....

Opening with what I think is an acoustic guitar (though it could be any of a number of stringed instruments) wherein a single note is rhythmically plucked again and again, "Poor" becomes a jazzy pop (or is it a poppy jazz?) once Smith begins her vocals, which tells the the tale of a woman telling her lover not to sweat having no money because they've got each other.  Keeping in mind that emaycee has noted often that he loves him some female vocalists, Smith's voice has a whimsical quality to it that drives the song--it's a syrupy sweet love ballad, but because of the song's sparseness and Smith's subtle sense of humor it doesn't become saccharine sweet.  Smith has a fine way of turning a phrase, and the song closes with a whimsical (it's late and I'm tired and I'm not checking the online thesaurus for synonyms for whimsical--the song is whimsical, goddamn it, and that's all there is to it) la da da da over the wah wah wah of a whimsical (arghhh) trumpet.  It's probably not for everyone, but I've fallen in love with it over the past couple of years and it never fails to bring a smile, and makes for a fine if quirky addition to the annals of Friday Night Jukebox.

Lyric Sheet:  "I don't need no mansion home/to get lost inside/there's no room to feel all alone/with you by my side..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XCVII--The Pixies: Debaser

A number of years ago, I read a piece about pop music in which the writer (it may have been Dave Marsh , but I won't swear to it) said that pop song lyrics were nonsense and we listened again and again because of the music.  I found myself somewhat ambivalent about his opinion--while I've never believed that Bruce Springsteen was on a par with T.S. Eliot as a wordsmith (Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize notwithstanding), "Born to Run" wouldn't be nearly the song it was if it had been an instrumental.

I've always thought, though, that this week's tune proved both sides--the lyrics to "Debaser" by the Pixies are so completely nonsensical and so completely brilliant that the song would be unimaginable without them.  But still it's the music that keeps you coming back for more....

Formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts, the Pixies may have been the Velvet Underground of their generation--they didn't sell a whole hell of a lot of records but they influenced the hell out of so, so many bands (including Nirvana, Blur, Weezer, The Strokes, and Radiohead).  Their first incarnation lasted seven years before a bitter breakup--they reformed in 2004 and are still together today (though without original bassist Kim Deal, also of The Breeders fame).  Amazingly, in all that time they've only released six albums, but it's been enough to keep them touring regularly and made for a hell of a greatest hits package.

Released in 1989 on their Doolittle LP, "Debaser" was based on a film by Luis Bunuel called Un Chien Andalou (An Andulusian Dog for those who Spanish is either rusty or nonexistent), a film which is supposedly about nothing. Basing it on the film was a brilliant move by songwriter Black Francis, as "Debaser" is also pretty much about nothing.  It's truly nonsensical lyrics matched with frenzied guitars and maniacal vocals...which makes it a perfect song for dorks like me who have devoted far too much of our lives to pop music but haven't regretted a minute of it.  It's two minutes and fifty-six seconds of unadulterated rock and roll, two minutes and fifty-six seconds of joyous celebration, and two minutes and fifty-six seconds of riotous vocals amped by driving guitars with a funky as all hell bass and electric drumming.

In short, in case you're wondering, it's a hell of a song.

Lyric sheet:  "Don't know about you, but I am un chien Andulusia!"

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XLI--The Breeders: Cannonball

Some years ago I read a piece (no idea where, though I think it might have been written by Dave Marsh) wherein the author claimed that rock and roll lyrics were more or less vapid, and we listened to such tunes for the music.  While I wouldn't say I buy into this theory, it does have some merit.  For instance, I have loved "Cannonball" by The Breeders for a number of years now, and until I looked up the lyrics today I had absolutely no fucking clue what the hell they were singing.

Of course, I still don't know what they're singing about, but at least now I know they're using actual words....

I came a little bit late to "Cannonball"--like about a dozen years after its release (better late than never...).  I was watching some VH1 top 100 songs of something or other sometime in the 2000s when it came up on the list and as I listened it turned into one of those "How the hell did I miss this one?" moments.  Turns out The Breeders were a hiatus project for Kim Deal of the Pixies (a band that, oddly enough, I also came to sometime after the fact).  Formed in 1990, The Breeders have stayed together (more or less) in several different incarnations until the present, though outside of Last Splash (the album that spawned "Cannonball") the band has not enjoyed a wealth of popular success.  "Cannonball reached #44 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Cannonball" starts with a chant that's sounds like it came from the mouths of the Wicked Witch of the West's Winkie Guards (and who the hell knew they were called Winkie Guards?  Certainly not me, at least until about five minutes ago).  It quickly morphs into a bass line that is a wicked rat-a-tat-tat, to which a guitar solo is added which can best be described as what walking through a House of Mirrors would sound like musically.  Next in are some power chords, by which time if you're not shaking to the music you're probably in a coma.  And it's only then that Kim Deal's vocals come bounding in, and they're a cross between the pop sensibilities of The Bangles and the throatiness of Joan Jett.  The bass and guitars continue echoing around the vocals, with a few false stops thrown in, until the end--all in all, the best description I can give of the song is that it sounds like a roller coaster feels.  And just like a roller coaster, it's about four minutes of unbounded exhilaration.

Embarrassing Factoid:  While I'd love to use the line "The bong in this reggae song" as this week's lyric link, I have to admit that until just a couple of months ago, I thought the band was singing "Shimmy shake, shimmy shake" when they were actually singing, "In the shade, in the shade."  And my coolness quotient sinks like a rock....

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee