What struck me about John Linnell’s ‘New Hampshire’ when I first heard it coming to a decade ago, was how grand it sounded. From the start it gave me this image of a huge parade going through town with a marching band, floats, balloons, the lot, and that’s always persisted to this day. All of the music was performed via an arrangement that was then cut out on paper and inserted into the carousel organ in Glen Echo Park, Maryland. The video linked doesn’t show the track itself playing through that carousel, but just gives an example of how it works. The instrument is one that is used predominantly in Linnell’s State Songs album, but it’s this track that he imagined to be the ‘big tour de force’, incorporating the drums and glockenspiels that the Echo Park carousel provided. It’s the soundtrack to a grand day out. So it’s a bit of a whiplash when the lyrics describe a character who’s something of a loner and not really liked by anyone.

The track starts off with the narrator looking through a window into a party or some sort of social gathering, only let in by a polite but startled attendee, who is then very much rejected by the people they come into contact with. Linnell really lays it on thick that this character is someone that we shouldn’t like. They’re a gatecrashing parasite, they’re morose, a downer, broken-hearted. At most, they’re “very interesting.” Any stroke of luck they may have had in the past just so happened inadvertently. Very negative pronouns and adjectives abound. So it’s a huge ironic twist to have this person described to the sounds of twinkling glockenspiels, strident organ chords and a somewhat classical-influenced melody. It’s something that probably wouldn’t work if anyone else tried it, but it’s John Linnell, so there’s always a high probability that it will whenever he pursues that approach.

And so, the main message of this track is “No one likes New Hampshire man.” That’s pretty much it. It’s a dramatic march dedicated to an intolerable person. Though I’ve recently come to think that Linnell’s also sneakily singing “No one likes New Hampshire, man.” I wouldn’t put it past him, makes for a nice double meaning. Moments that stand out to me… that part during the second “Woman wonders…” section where it the track turns into a bit of a waltz? And when those clarinets come in right at the end mirroring the ‘No one likes New Hampshire man” line, before the track goes out on these slightly out of time chord strikes. Ends it all on this big “hurrah”. I really dig this live performance of the track with Linnell playing it on the accordion. Why not just watch the whole thing too, it’s one of only a couple Linnell solo 1999 shows you can find at the moment.