Tuesday March 25, 2008 at 20:52
Last one. I was going to write 5, but I need to work on other things. #5 was going to be Animal Girl by Liz Phair, you can write it yourself, if you’re heard it.
Song #4 that I Only Half Like:
Ida - “Equator”
I like the Ida. The later stuff a little better than the earlier stuff, and this is earlier stuff, but still. I feel it. The second verse in this song has one of my all time favorite lyrics in it: “I like to draw maps / I like to show you where I’ve been / This is the place where it’s hotter than summer / This is where I’m called Madeline.”
But then, two things:
1) It’s not really a song that cries out for a screeching guitar solo, in the middle, right? I mean…right?
2) Last stanza: “And the birds will commend my honor / as I swim to the top of the, the rain” makes me want to die. Like I go fetal when I hear it. I just reflexively coil and cringe in embarrassment for someone having a) written it, when they weren’t 15 and it wasn’t just going in their diary where no one would ever see it again until 20 years later when performing at Cringe; b) vetted it past the band mates, like “Hey and then I’ll sing this!” and they all nod like, Yeah, solid; and then c) sang it into a microphone and recorded it for posterity. (Forever!) And plus: d) maybe even sang that line live in concert, in front of a room full of people, many of whom had hoped to go home and have sex after the show. Before that line killed the mood and they just shuffled off into the rainy night, maybe stopped at a diner and had some fries on the way home, and felt bad about themselves for the rest of the weekend. And then Monday it was back to work.
