#1163: Green Day – Scattered

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Feels like I only ever write about Green Day songs from Nimrod lately. Two of them did appear in the ‘R’ section, and sure that would have been months ago at this point. But the last song from another Green Day album I wrote about was ‘Pulling Teeth’, and that was over a year ago. Not that I want to sound like I’m complaining. That’s a tone I always aim to try and avoid when writing these things. Nimrod‘s up there in my favourite Green Day albums. It’s one of the first albums I downloaded to my old computer when I was properly getting into sitting down and listening to albums in about ’09. This is a story I’ve told before. But as a result, although it might not be the favourite Green Day album of mine, it does hold a special place for sure.

‘Scattered’ is fifth track on there, and is an example of the band being at their most power-poppest, for lack of a better adjective. It’s surprising to me that it wasn’t a single back in the Nimrod times, because it definitely could have been one. Though maybe it’s just a case that it was the obvious choice for a single that the band decided against it. If that makes sense. Being punk rock and all. But it ticks all the right boxes. There’s something about the song that makes it sound like it should have been existing way before the ’90s. Think it’s all down to the melody. Such an accessible one that you’d think it would have been used by any other songwriter to have existed before Billie Joe Armstrong and co. got the track down. But as far as I’m aware, there’s no song from the decades that preceded it whose melody was stolen, nabbed or tweaked in order to ‘Scattered’ the track it is.

The song is about a person who goes on a bit of an emotional trip after seeing a bunch of pictures ‘scattered’ on the floor, containing images of another person of interest who they miss tremendously. A wave of regret and despair comes crashing in, and the narrator wishes that they could be together again. Quite sad stuff that you maybe wouldn’t pick up on at first because of the track’s velocity and general catchiness. I’m gonna assume that the lyrics do come from a personal place. Billie Joe Armstrong at the point of Nimrod was already married and had had a child. Being the frontman of a band who was continuously on tour throughout ’94 to ’96 would have taken its toll. So I think the track’s a little love letter to his wife. Possibly. Anyone can tell me I’m wrong. But all in all, I enjoy this one a lot. Won’t get a skip from me.

#1162: Radiohead – Scatterbrain. (As Dead as Leaves.)

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Mmm-mmm, Hail to the Thief. You know what? I’ll always root for this Radiohead album, even if it’s the one that the band and resident producer Nigel Godrich agree could have been worked on a little bit more. They recorded the songs in two weeks, in free spirits in a sunny LA after the stressful Kid A/Amnesiac sessions. They didn’t want to bring up any more bad blood that came from tracklist arrangements and production choices, so they put some light touches on and put all of them out there on an almost hour-long record, the final one on their contract with EMI. There are some great songs on there. A couple I’ve written about already. A few more I will do in the future. Those great songs, I reckon, are some of the best in the group’s whole discography.

It’s been a ride and a half up to the point you get to the album’s penultimate track ‘Scatterbrain’, but when it starts you’re greeted with a very calming drum track and descending guitar line by Jonny Greenwood. It’s also a welcome change of pace, considering it comes after one of the more menacing, fuzzed out songs on the record in ‘Myxomatosis’. Yorke said this song is a very hard one to describe, but mentioned that it was influenced by his favourite type of weather and an incident where the roof of a next-door neighbor of his flew up into the sky in a Wizard of Oz type manner. The lyrics do bring up a lot of imagery concerned with that sort of scenery. What I think the track is mainly about, is wanting to find some peace of mind in a world that’s going mad. And in 2003, with the Iraq War and all of that great stuff happening, things were going crazy and off the deep end for a while.

Think it’s fair to say that Thom Yorke’s vocal is the real highlight of the entire thing. While Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood’s guitars are twinkling away in the left and right channels, Yorke comes in with an earnest performance that reverberates into the distance. He’s really left out in the open here. But his voice will glitch out to add a little quirk to the very human aspect of it all. The track subtly builds as things progress. Greenwood comes in first on the guitar, O’Brien joins in at the start of the second verse. What I think is a Mellotron joins in for the second half of that verse, and then these parts drop out one-by-one at the song’s key change, where Yorke claims that there must be someplace out there where he isn’t in is head too much and can be in a state of content. The way the last guitar note trails off and the last rimshot echoes into silence leaves things a little unresolved, which I think works perfectly well, as that then leads into the final track and brings everything to a swift conclusion. But more about that song will be for another day.

#1161: Pink Floyd – The Scarecrow

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This track’s a relatively recent add to the music storage on the phone. It was back in 2021 or so. I can’t remember what made me do it. I was mostly likely on a Pink Floyd binge as a fan of Pink Floyd may do on occasion, came across the promotional video for ‘The Scarecrow’ (above) and liked it enough that it made sense to add it to the library. It was one of the last few songs I synced onto my phone before I made the decision to stop adding ‘new’ music, otherwise I’d end up never finishing this series. Or at least I would, but at a much further time than I think I would want it to go on for.

And with ‘The Scarecrow’ comes the only representation of the band’s Piper at the Gates of Dawn album that you’ll see on here. It’s not my favourite LP by the band. But with that being said, the Syd Barrett-era of Pink Floyd is an interesting, interesting one. Though I don’t think anyone will complain about any of the music that followed after his departure, it’s songs (for me) like ‘Arnold Layne’, ‘The Gnome’, ‘Bike’ and ‘See Emily Play’ (which’ll get a post on here fairly soon) that make me wonder how things would have gone for Barrett and the group had he not fried his brain with LSD and suffered a complete mental breakdown. It’s one of those great questions that’ll never be answered.

So, what’s ‘The Scarecrow’ about? Well, it’s in the title. Which specific scarecrow caught Barrett’s eye is anyone’s guess. But he saw it, and the sight of it was fascinating enough that it inspired him enough to write a song. There’s nothing to work out when it comes to the lyricism, which is a case when it comes to a lot of songs penned by Barrett. They’re written in a way that, really, a child could understand, which I say with no intention to undermine them. The accompanying music, I feel, reinforces this childlike wonder. You get this clip-clopping percussion and a wandering organ that separates the verses. I think Barrett comes in a bar or two earlier when singing the second verse. All nice and psychedelic. And then this majestic ending with swooping strings and 12-string guitar suddenly comes in from out of nowhere, fading out before you have time to process it. Could listen to that part on an infinite loop. But it’s a genius move. To end this song in such a way that leaves you wanting more after starting off so unassumingly. And that’s just one reason why I respect Syd Barrett’s craft.

#1160: Red Hot Chili Peppers – Scar Tissue

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When I was a younger buck, the video for ‘Scar Tissue’ would show up on the TV out of the blue on numerous occasions. This would have been after the Californication era of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Heck, even after By the Way. Music channels in the UK in the 2000s would show RHCP just ’cause they’re a popular band anyway. But I’m thinking the video would have been shown more around the time Stadium Arcadium was on the horizon, ‘Dani California’ was the hot new single, and general hype for the Chilis was at a big, big high. All of this is a roundabout way to say, seeing the video on these channels was how I got to know the song.

‘Scar Tissue’ was the first single released from Californication back in 1999. When I found this out initially, I was kinda confused. The track isn’t one of the most upbeat things you’ll ever hear. The band looked battered and bruised in the music video. Pre-pubescent me thought the whole thing was a bit of a downer. But I recognise now that it was meant to be more a symbolic choice more than anything. It showcases the band’s newer melodic, mellow style after the funky Sex Magik and harder-rock One Hot Minute albums that came earlier in the decade. John Frusciante was back in the band. The first thing you hear is Frusciante’s lick that opens the song, he’s driving the car in the music video, the weeping slide-guitar solos are just a few of its highlights. It all made sense once some thought on my part went behind it. It is still a bit of a downer, but sometimes you need those kinds of songs anyway.

Like a lot of things penned by Anthony Kiedis, the song isn’t about anything much at all and are just words written to coalesce with the music that Frusciante, Flea and Chad Smith provide, leaving it all to the listener’s interpretation. I think it’s more about the imagery in this case. He can come up with some laughable headscratchers, it’s true, but you won’t find any here. The melody’s simple, only really alternating between two notes, before switching up for the choruses that are capped off by Frusciante’s guitar solos. You’re guaranteed to see it if you were to see the band live. I don’t think Frusciante’s played those solos in the same way since they first made the track. Overall, some great, great stuff.

#1159: Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson – Say Say Say

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Where to start with this one? I don’t think I have a very deep story to tell with this one, as to how I came across it for the first time. I want to say I have a memory of hearing it on the radio a long, long time ago when I was a child. But even then I’m not so sure. Though if I’m going with this story, I wouldn’t have known who was singing, nor would I have even been aware that there were two different singers on there. I’m sure the kid me thought it was really good. To be very honest, I think I actually became aware of ‘Say Say Say’ through a sample of it that was used in this house track from 2006. It’s very generic. But then through becoming a fan of The Beatles and probably seeing its music video on TV too, it was an instance of “Oh, that’s what that song was sampling.” And it sounded much better in comparison.

Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson decided to get together during the spring of 1981. Story goes Jackson called McCartney up, the latter thought it was a prank. When it was clear it wasn’t, the two came to an agreement to “make some hits” and Jackson stayed round Paul and Linda McCartney’s place during the recording sessions. It may have also been during this time that McCartney advised Jackson to get into song publishing, but that’s another story altogether. The sessions with Jackson and McCartney went swimmingly, with a couple tracks making it out alive as a result. One being ‘The Man’, and ‘Say Say Say’. Between the two, it’s clear which one was always going to be that hit that the two envisioned.

Completed in 1981, it wouldn’t be until a couple years later that the track would see the light of day, when it was released as the first single from McCartney’s Pipes of Peace album. And it got the works. Thriller was probably still in the charts somewhere when ‘Say Say Say”s release came around, and with Jackson being the biggest star on the planet and McCartney still being a former Beatle and all, the song had to also get the big music video (above) to highlight the camaraderie between the two. Also nice to see Linda McCartney in there too. As for the song, well, it’s about a man (whose perspective is sung by the two artists) left hung out to dry by a woman of his affection. He just wants to know if she feels the same way. She’s got to say, say, say, is what it comes down to. McCartney and Jackson are brilliant on the vocals, trading off, harmonising, makes for an engaging listen. Possesses a very tight groove. It’s a dang classic to me.