The Sweet Yearn Of Youth.

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AlwaysVille


First of all, Song Exploder.

Song

Freaking

Exploder

All right?

****

One of the things that bugs me about getting old is that it inevitably gets more and more difficult to serendipitously stumble across something that smacks you up the side of the head so hard that it lights a fire that can, if you're lucky, turn into an all consuming obsessive bout with insight, however fleeting.

Like, for example, with songs.

I still remember finding 'Jail Guitar Doors' on that fake 'first' Clash Album (i.e. the 'blue' version in Canada) and slapping it on a cassette so I could play/rewind/play/rewind/play/rewind over and over again while driving the backstreets of southern Vancouver Island in the Kenny Van.

And that was before I even knew that the 'Wayne' of the first line was Mr. Kramer of the MC-5.

In hindsight, I think what really struck me was the evolution of Mr. Jones' vocal layered over top of Strummer's overdrive that would soon become so prominent on that third double album to come.

Which makes sense, maybe, given that the primordial version of the tune concerned was first scaffolded together by Strummer back in his old 101'er days.

Anyway...

I've been enjoying the musical work of a young woman named Sharon van Etten for awhile now.

But I wouldn't say I've been obsessed.

But today, on the way home I put on the Song Exploder episode wherein she explains how she built one of her new tunes, Seventeen, from melodic, sonic and lyrical perspectives.

All this explanation built to such a crescendo that when they finally played the tune in its entirety at the end of the podcast I couldn't wait to listen.

And then, when that was done, I got off the bus immediately so that I could walk the long way home.

And listen again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Until I finally made it back to the subterranean blues room where I madly stitched together a bit of digitally enhanced back story into my fading memory before writing this.

OK?

_______
Interestingly, Ms. van Etten's tune is only disguised as a yearning thing...Instead, as she explains, it's really about how the reckoning can lead to closure and more....And it's also about building a wedge to rock out on...And, get this, Michael Cera's Jupiter 4...Go figure.
Don't give a hoot-in-heckfire what the kids (or, at least, the near kids) are up to these days?....Well, check out this edition of SExploder to learn how Lindsay Buckingham conceived of and built one of Fleetwood Mac's biggest hits...You'll be surprised by the level of literalness coupled with introspection and very little cynicism...Seriously.



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