By Tim Duffy
Sometimes a song pummels you into enjoying it with an immediate rush of energy. Some songs worm their way into your head with persistence. A chorus can bowl you over or a a bridge can take a song from being good to being amazing.
And then sometimes there is a lyric that get’s in your head. A little couplet of lines that means something to you or just strikes you as clever. It can almost shock you out of the bewildering aspects of instruments and melody. What’s left when the song is over is a sense that you need to get back to those lyrics.
Superchunk have put out every kind of good song. They have has a long and illustrious career. Still it was a huge surprise when last year after a decade long hiatus from full length records they put out one of their best, Majesty Shredding. Every song feels like a stand out and it is some of the most inviting and lively music of their career.
For me though the easy highlight comes in the mid-tempo pseudo ballad “Winter Games”.
“well your helmet, it had no scars/we leave our best coats in bars/like ice fisherman lose cars.”
Are these the greatest lyrics of all time? No. But it is funny and in context of the rest of the lyrics pointed. The song as I see it is about the yearning for distraction in a relationship that has become cold and frayed. If you can make me smile while pulling the heart strings I’ll love you forever.
Unnecessary footnote: Bonus points to Superchunk for dropping a fishing reference into a song. My favorite lyrics about fishing come from the DMX classic “Up In Here.”
“Listen, yo’ ass is about to be missin/You know who gon’ find you? (Who?) Some old man fishin.’”
Possibly Related Posts:
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: The Smashing Pumpkins “1979″
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: The Velvet Underground “There She Goes Again”
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: The Records “Starry Eyes”
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: Green Day “Geek Stink Breath”
- Today’s “Best Song Ever”: Portishead “The Magic Door”
