Monthly Archives: April 2014

My iPod #291: Razorlight – Don’t Go Back to Dalston

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Anyone hear any fuss being made about “Up All Night“? Nah, me neither. I ask because it’s ten years old this year. “Up All Night” being Razorlight’s first album released in 2004. I like “Up All Night”, it’s a pleasant listen. Most tracks play into one another, I like it when an album does that. Too bad Johnny Borrell became quite unbearable in the following years. It is the best Razorlight album, no doubt about that.

The album includes “Don’t Go Back to Dalston”, a minor key track apparently addressed to Pete Doherty, then a member of The Libertines, to go a bit easy on the drugs. There are two halves to this song. The first half being distinctive verses and choruses, and the other being a long coda with the refrain “Come back, come back, come back” repeated numerous times. That half is longer than the first.

Borrell said the song was barely written, he just envisaged it in his mind after waking up from a hangover. It kinda shows. Still good though.

My iPod #290: The Who – Dogs

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Behold. A song that sounds like nothing The Who would ever do, made by The Who.

This is “Dogs”. A single released in 1968, and recorded during a period when the group went ‘slightly mad’ according to Pete Townshend.

There’s nothing much I can say to you that would be any different from its entry on Wikipedia. It’s a very English-sounding song. That “beer” chorus reminds me of a sing-along down at a pub or something, and overall it sounds like a very dramatic theme track for two characters in a soap opera.

In comparison to everything else The Who did, “Dogs” is definitely an odd one…..

My iPod #289: They Might Be Giants – Dog Walker

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On This Might Be a Wiki – ‘the premier TMBG knowledge base’ – “Dog Walker” is the lowest rated track from “Join Us“. Out of the known 764 They Might Be Giants songs, “Dog Walker” is positioned right near the bottom at 731. I can kind of understand why. With its strange vocal manipulation and laid-back instrumentation, it is one that is hard to get your head around when listening to it for the first time. “Dog Walker” is weird.

Buuuuut there’s something oddly infectious about it. John Flansburgh sounds like he breathed in helium before doing the take but the vocals don’t sound as annoying or grating as they probably should. I think that is helped by the aforementioned instrumentation. Everything’s played at a cool rate. The keyboard, guitar and the rhythm section with extra percussion are all there, but are not overplayed to the extent of ruining the track’s groove.

“Dog Walker” is smooth, man. It took me a few listens to get into in. More so than any other track from “Join Us”. It has now been a favourite for a while, and is a very underrated song in a vast catalogue of material.

My iPod #288: They Might Be Giants – Doctor Worm

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Whilst browsing through game websites and looking for anything good to pass the time; I came across this “Worm” game. It is essentially “Snake”, the popular game that everyone had on their Nokia phones. But instead of circling around in a square trying to eat the object as a snake… you’re a worm.

A thirty second or so sample of music played before coming to an abrupt end and then started all over again as I played. The opening lyrics were from the perspective of a worm who is called “Doctor Worm” by people but isn’t an actual doctor, though it insists that it is an actual worm. I loved this short sample. To me it was jolly music that made playing the ‘Worm’ game more fun.

However, with every listen came a suspicion that the voice who was singing these lyrics sounded familiar…….. The silly, nonsensical but funny subject matter with the upbeat music and blaring horns. There was no way. It couldn’t be.

I searched up the lyrics in Google, and sure enough….. the song was indeed by They Might Be Giants. A song about a fictional worm who plays the drums in a band? What else couldn’t these people write about?

It was first released as a new studio song on the band’s live album “Severe Tire Damage“, released back in 1998.

My iPod #287: The Beatles – Doctor Robert

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Near the end of the album “Revolver” is “Doctor Robert”, one of the more normal sounding songs on it. What I mean is, it’s just the four guys playing their respective instruments. No violins, sitars, tambouras, backward guitar solos. It’s a standard rock song. Now I know there’s “Tomorrow Never Knows” or “Eleanor Rigby”…… “Here, There and Everywhere”, those are usually the ones that people would say are their favourite tracks from “Revolver”. “Doctor Robert” is mine… say what you wanna say.

Carried along by a durable rhythm section and a crackly, rough guitar by Lennon for the verses, “Doctor Robert” is the perfect advertisement for…. a doctor. Day or night, Doctor Robert will be there anytime. He does everything he can. The song’s based on a real doctor. Actually, there are contradicting ideas on who Doctor Robert actually was. It is ‘most likely’ about a doctor who dosed some of the members with amphetamines in his Vitamin B injections. You didn’t think this song was about the hard-working doctors who save most lives on a daily basis. Ohh no. What would be the fun in that.

Yeah, the track’s a whole big nod to drugs and stuff. A really nice track, though. When the lead guitar rings in at the last moments in the second verse, the chorus begins with on-point, choir-like vocal melodies between John, Paul and George and a heavenly B chord provided by a harmonium, you feel like everything’s going to be okay.

Surrounded by the other tracks, “Doctor Robert” seems like the least interesting one on “Revolver” but it is moments like that one which remind us that at the most unusual times the group could pull the rabbit out of the hat and amaze us with their magic.