Category Archives: Music

#1264: OutKast – Spread

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‘Spread’ is a track from André 3000’s album, The Love Below. Technically his first solo record, but we all know it as one half of OutKast’s hefty Speakerboxxx/The Love Below double LP from 2003. It’s the only OutKast album I physically own. It’s an anecdote I’ve told before. I wanted the ‘Hey Ya!’ single as a present. My aunt got me the album instead. And I was only eight or something, so I didn’t have the bandwidth to sit down and listen to two hours and 15 minutes of music. Back then, ‘Hey Ya!’ and ‘Roses’ were enough for me. But somewhere along the timeline, I came across ‘Spread’ and thought it was a song I could see myself revisiting many a time. Think this initial feeling happened when I was playing FIFA while having my whole iTunes library on shuffle and the song came up. It was a time when I really had no responsibilities at all, believe me.

There’s a comment on the YouTube page where the above ‘Spread’ is, which says something along the lines of “André 3000 was definitely listening to Prince’s Sign o’ the Times when he was making this! laughingface emoji laughingface emoji” I listened to that album just a few months back, and I can see where that commenter is coming from. 3 Stacks even has a high-pitched vocal here like Prince uses on some tracks from Sign…. But the huge similarity comes in the lyrical subject matter. ‘Spread’ is about André 3000 eyeing a woman he likes that he immediately wants to have relations with, and he makes those feelings clear – be it in the spoken/talking first verse or the rapid-fire rapping second verse that comes after. I think we can at least appreciate that André wants there to be a mutual feeling of interest between he and this fascinating woman. But he wants the listener and the lady to know that he is ready to go to the bedroom and have a fantastic night of passion.

Thinking back to when I first heard the song, I’m gonna say that the first thing that grabbed my attention was the song’s chorus. Apart from the mood-setting keyboard intro, the chorus is the beginning section of the song – one in which André 3000 sings each respective line in a higher key, culminating in the soaring falsetto ‘Spread, spread for me’ lyric followed by the campy “I can’t wait to get you home’ refrain. It all got stuck in my head very quickly. The aforementioned second verse where 3 Stacks starts rapping like his life depends on it, so unexpectedly after the serenading opening verse, is a big highlight too. The way he delivers the words, matching the frenetic programmed drums behind it. Makes my head move in all directions. The track is the beginning of a little three-part suite in the album, with following skit ‘Where Are My Panties?’ capturing André’s and the woman’s internal thoughts during the early morning while they’re both lying in bed and ‘Prototype’ where he hear André contemplating on whether this lady could be the one for him. A good little run in this experience of an album.

#1263: Snow Patrol – Spitting Games

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“Hey, Jamie. Do you listen to Snow Patrol?” No one’s ever asked me that in my life. But the answer I would provide if I was would be a short “No.” Not because I don’t like the band. I just don’t pay that much mind to them. I think the last Snow Patrol song I remember being around and promoted was ‘Just Say Yes’. And whatever spin you may want to put on it that stops you from acknowledging your age, that song is pushing 20 years since its release. There was a point where the band was everywhere. Mainly ’cause of ‘Chasing Cars’. I never understood the hype for that one. Oh, and couldn’t forget about ‘Run’ too. ‘Open Your Eyes’ was used in an episode of The Office US. They were featured in a Spider-Man film soundtrack too. But when it comes to Snow Patrol, there are two songs by them I really like. One of them I covered ages ago in ‘Chocolate’. And the other being today’s featured song ‘Spitting Games’, both of which are from the group’s 2003 album Final Straw.

‘Chocolate’ was the first Snow Patrol track I ever heard. In the process of writing this, I looked back at the post I did for it. What a throwaway that was. I was younger and clearly didn’t care as much. When it comes to ‘Spitting Games’, I’m not too sure when or where I heard it for the very first time. Maybe it was in an advert. Maybe I heard it in a TV show somewhere. When it comes to these sorts of situations, more than likely I saw the video on MTV2 or one of those music television programmes and got into it almost immediately. It’s all in that guitar riff/’ooh-ooh’ melody that opens the song. Once you hear that, it’s pretty much over, you won’t be able to get it out of your head. Or maybe I’m just projecting. At the very least, I’m sure that’s what happened to me when I initially came across it. I particularly like the song’s ending, which is a spontaneous recording by producer Jacknife Lee of singer Gary Lightbody performing the track on a staircase.

For the longest time, I was confused by the song’s title and what it had to do with the lyrics. Like the previous song I covered on here, it just made me think of this disgusting image of people literally spitting at each other for fun. But honestly, maybe only yesterday (I write this on 13th February 2025), I properly thought about the title and its other very obvious meaning. When you’re spitting game, you’re flirting. And that’s what this song’s about. Well, it’s about the narrator’s inability to flirt due to shyness. They feel much more comfortable telling the person they’re interested in how they feel through writing an undisclosed number of letters. It’s not made clear if these letters are even sent. But they just need to get the words down because otherwise they’ll never be physically said. They just can’t muster the courage. Yeah, I like this one. And below are a couple of alternative videos for the track I found in the YouTube search. Just a bit different from the one I’m used to.

#1262: Pavement – Spit on a Stranger

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So I was talking about Pavement’s ‘Speak, See, Remember’ the other day, another song from the Terror Twilight album, and how I downloaded the LP on the 8th June 2012. Well, at the same time, I went ahead to check the properties of the other song files. It turned out that I had separately downloaded album opener ‘Spit on a Stranger’ a few months earlier, in February or so. Why? Only my 17-year-old self would know, ’cause this 30-year-old doesn’t remember.* But I’m thinking, by the time I decided to download all the other songs, I really liked ‘Carrot Rope’ and I must have grown to like ‘…Stranger’ a lot. So clearly it made sense to. Good thing I did too, because the album is one I can let run from front to back on any occasion. Feels good for my soul.

The image/concept of spitting on a stranger sounds understandably gross and needless, but it goes far more deeper than that in the way songwriter Stephen Malkmus approaches it. The track is a truly earnest falling-in-love song, in which the narrator – lucky enough to find themselves being one of the two involved in the relationship – begins to realize the positive effects this other person has on them, giving the narrator the determination to do whatever it takes to make the relationship work and hopefully last. So what does the ‘spit on a stranger’ phrase actually mean? Well, I think it’s roundabout way of referring to kissing. ‘Cause that’s what happens on dates that go well, I guess. We kiss, and we essentially get our spit on this person we’ve known for a relatively short amount of time. It’s a slightly ugly way to put it. The song is anything but, with the golden guitar work and wispy synthesizer and Malkmus’s sighing vocal delivery. A track to play to a glorious sunset, or sunrise even.

The big question I have about ‘…Stranger’ are the additional vocals on the right-hand side that come into the mix at around a minute and 38 seconds in. Anyone know what’s being said? I don’t, but I always try and sing along to them all the same. They provide a very nice countermelody during the proceedings. Had things gone producer Nigel Godrich’s way, ‘Spit on a Stranger’ would have been the closer on Terror Twilight. His proposed tracklist was put into practice on the 2022 Farewell Horizontal reissue. I’ve gotta say, it works beautifully as “the last song”. Ending the whole record on the line, “I’ll be the one that leaves you high”, would have been very suitable. But introducing the listener to the album’s “world” with the number is something I’m just too used to at this point. I would have only been four at the time of the album’s initial release, but even I get some sort of nostalgic feeling from the song. Feels like one that symbolises the end of the ’90s. And the end of the band during the initial run.

*08/01/26 – Thinking about it now, I’m sure I downloaded ‘Spit on a Stranger’ on its own on the mere fact it was a single by Pavement, and I wanted to test the waters before fully diving into Terror Twilight as a whole. You can see why I forgot, because it was a very simple decision that I thought nothing of at the time.

#1261: They Might Be Giants – Spiraling Shape

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And continuing talk about They Might Be Giants songs that leave me wanting more, today’s song is ‘Spiraling Shape’, the ninth song on the band’s Factory Showroom album from 1996. The track is almost four minutes longer than ‘Spine’. But when it reaches its end where everything cuts to sudden silence, I usually think “I could listen to that one again.” And I usually do. When I first came round to listen to Factory Showroom, in about 2010 or something, ‘Spiraling Shape’ appeared to be one that fans considered to be their best according to the Song Ratings list on the the band’s fan-run Wikipedia site. In the top 20, I want to say, even back then. I won’t say it was an immediate hit on the first listen. I was probably being a dumb hater. Usually was at 15. But then it was those listens that followed that got me thinking, “Yep. This song is a good one.” Something along those lines.

Another TMBG number written by John Linnell, the track is about a little thing known as a ‘fad’ – an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived; a craze. Thank you, Google, for that definition. And in the case of the song, this enthusiasm is for the titular subject. People see this spiraling shape, immediately stop what they’re doing and are drawn in to this hypnotising presence that looms before them, like lambs to the slaughter. Perspectives from the people who haven’t yet experienced the shape but have heard what others have said about it, those who did but were left disillusioned by it, and those who know they could even come to harm by being allured by it are told. And the melodies utliised throughout are oh-so sweet. “The spiraling shape will make you go insaaaaaane”, Linnell sings. “Everyone wants to see that groovy thiiiiiiiing”, Flansburgh replies. There are some pitched-up Linnell harmonies that show up to in the midst of it all. You’ve gotta love it. I know I do.

The song actually has origins as early as 1992. In that year, They Might Be Giants made a demo for the song ‘Rocket Ship’. Quite the groovy number about travelling in a rocket ship that may or may not crash during its journey. Linnell switches up his vocal during the verses to make it sound more unusual than normal. But then suddenly out of nowhere, the chorus that would end up being used in ‘Spiraling Shape’ starts playing seemingly out of nowhere. Two somewhat disparate sections brought together to make a whole. Linnell recognised the greatness he had achieved with this section, reserving it for use at a later date. The parts making up the verses were never used again. Maybe they will be one day. It’s looking more likely that they won’t. But just goes to show that if a complete song doesn’t seem to work, as long as there’s one memorable part within it, you can always recycle it to make it its own thing some time in the future.

#1260: They Might Be Giants – Spine

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They Might Be Giants’ The Spine was the first album by the band that I owned physically. A lot of TMBG fans might ask why. The Spine, for whatever reason, isn’t considered to be one of their greatest moments. Was released in a bit of a wilderness period they were going through. Honestly, my request for the LP stemmed from desperately wanting to hear the transition between ‘Au Contraire’ and ‘Damn Good Times’ in an uninterrupted fashion. And it contained ‘Experimental Film’, which I found through Homestar Runner. I always had good times with the cartoon. But within the album is a number of strong songs, ones that I consider to be up there as some of the group’s best. Others not so much. But that’s how it usually goes with music.

Now a lot of people may argue that ‘Spine’ wouldn’t go in the category of best songs by They Might Be Giants. And I would probably agree. But there was a point where I was just singing it to myself out of the blue and on a frequent basis. So this obviously meant that I liked it without even really trying. ‘Spine’ is only 30 seconds long and is more of a transition piece between the album opener, aforementioned ‘Experimental Film’, and third song ‘Memo to Human Resources’. But even as that, I still get a kick out of it. It’s the first of two songs about the essential anatomic structure in our bodies. This one sung by John Linnell. ‘Spines’ by John Flansburgh comes around later on. I have it in my head that the two songwriters coincidentally wrote songs about the spine in their own respective free times, and once one had found out that the other had done the same, then it only seemed reasonable that the album they’d do next would be named The Spine.

In the six lines ‘Spine’ is made of, I think John Linnell is trying to depict a man going through a stressful time of some kind. Mentions of dragging feet across a back and walking fingers through a mind. Doesn’t sound like things are going according to plan in this narrator’s world. The band’s performance sounds quite heavy, but I put that to the fact that everything’s bunched up in the centre channel. Gives the whole atmosphere a very crowded feel. Initially, I thought it was a whole other singer on the track. Maybe someone the Johns knew and thought would do a good job. Really, it’s just John Linnell really delivering the words from his stomach, as opposed to the more nasal tones he usually provides. Just as soon as you feel the song progressing and feel like it’s going somewhere, it ends and you’re left wanting at least a minute more. At least when you’re in my shoes, that’s the case. But I can make do with what we have.