Tag Archives: now

#956: They Might Be Giants – Now That I Have Everything

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‘Now That I Have Everything’ was the first song on They Might Be Giants’ very first demo tape released in 1983. There may be only a few people out there who own that. Unless the track then hadn’t been officially released on Then: The Earlier Years in ’97, the track would most definitely have become one of the many TMBG songs that you could only find in a lower audio quality on a bootleg somewhere. If ‘Everything Right Is Wrong Again’ hadn’t been considered as the album opener to the band’s first album, ‘Now That I Have Everything’ could have taken its spot. Coincidentally, they both have the word ‘everything’ in their titles, but they also have an upbeat inviting tone to them while also sharing a theme of situations not being as great as they seem/used to be.

The track actually goes way back before They Might Be Giants were even a band. Prior to their formation, John Linnell was the keyboard player in a band called The Mundanes and had written the track while in that position. They tried to rehearse the track, but he was too shy to sing out loud. It can only be assumed that he kept it in his locker and was more than ready to do something with it when John Flansburgh came around. To my knowledge, there’s no reason as to why Flansburgh takes the lead vocal on the track instead of Linnell, but I’m not complaining because he does such a fine job. At this point it would feel strange to hear Linnell on the vocal, even though it’s his song. Maybe Flansburgh could pull off the ‘man who has everything’ persona that the track is based on. Who knows, it’s all suggestions. Those are my ramblings on the vocals over.

Like a lot of other They Might Be Giants songs, the melody is all there instantly. I don’t know how they do it, but they possess a abundant knack for that stuff that’s difficult to find. Unlike other TMBG songs, there’s a distinct absence of guitar. Instead the keyboards provide the rhythm chords and lead riffs, noticeably during the track’s outro and a little part about 45 seconds in that borrows the melody from a 1963 song called ‘On Broadway’. While the Johns perform in standard 4/4 time, the programmed drums are playing in 5/4, which provide this chaotic feel as these fills and cymbal hits come in at seemingly random points. You’re never quite sure where the downbeat is. Funnily enough, the drum track was taken directly from a drumbeat CD, and you can listen to that exact beat here. So yes, a good mix of musically interesting and melodic accessibility. That’s really all you ever need from a song. It’s on show here. It’s on show a lot of the time with TMBG.

#955: Maxïmo Park – Now I’m All Over the Shop

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I don’t have a deep connection to this one as I do to the others on A Certain Trigger, I gotta say. The other tracks I’ve talked about that are also from that album I came to know through seeing their music videos multiple on the television. ‘Now I’m All Over the Shop’ I had to come to grips with straight from audio, and it was maybe that second or third listen of it that it got that hold on me that songs can usually do for a lotta people. It comes near the end of the record, and when you come to that point in any album you start to think that the energy might give out a little or the song’s might start to decline in quality. But it isn’t this case, with this track proving the point. It’s a short, sharp burst of energy.

To be ‘all over the shop’ is a British way of saying ‘confused’, ‘disorganised, or ‘in a state of disarray’ if you want to get fancy with it. Lyricist and singer Paul Smith, or at least the narrator within this track, is left in this state it seems after the end of a relationship where nothing seemed to be going right anyway. He tried to be polite and tolerate the other person’s ways through gritted teeth, but ultimately realises that this way of dealing with things isn’t fooling anyone, especially not himself. In fact, judging by the lyrics throughout, he’s quite disgusted with the whole situation.

What really gets the gears going is the instrumentation throughout. It begins with this really tinny-sounding guitar line, then joined in by Smith on vocals and these strange out of key runs on a piano. It’s deceiving at first, but then the pre-chorus starts with a proper explosion of guitars and cymbals. From then on it’s an energetic and bustling composition. Instruments drop out and in again alongside emphatic strikes on the drums, scales climb and descend, drum rolls occur all over this thing. It’s one of those tracks to pogo to and not do much dancing to. Mainly thrashing around and flailing your arms in random directions. Again, it may not be considered to be one of the noteworthy tracks on here. I’ve got no evidence to support that statement. That’s just me assuming. But it’s a favourite of mine, so really that’s all that matters.

#954: The Who – Now I’m a Farmer

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Released on the band’s Odds & Sods compilation in 1974, The Who’s ‘Now I’m a Farmer’ is certainly one of the oddest songs the band had ever made, especially once you consider that the rather introspective and ambitious Quadrophenia rock opera had been their most recent work and out for almost a year by the time of the compilation’s arrival. The song’s origins went as far back as 1968 when Pete Townshend was in the early stages of writing Tommy. You can kind of hear the similarity between the melody of the verses in ‘Farmer’ and ‘Christmas’ from Tommy. It didn’t make it onto that album. It was then recorded in 1970 for an EP that then didn’t see the light of day. And so, left on the cutting room floor, no one except the band knew of the song’s existence for another four years.

In Townshend’s words, the song is a drug one, but you wouldn’t be able to tell because the lyrics generally concern vegetables and corn and cereal and other usual farming activities. In my opinion, the song’s always been about how great farming is and the delight that one can take from it, and there are several points in the track that can back that idea up. It’s a strange topic to choose for The Who, but it was also written during a period where the band were writing songs about dog racing and spirituality, so it seemed that it was just a case of “anything goes”. I don’t know if The Who have ever been considered pretentious at any point in their history, maybe so with all the rock operas and the concept albums, but it’s a track like this that shows that the group could always bring out humour in their music and not take things too seriously.

Unlike other Who songs of the ’70s, this one’s a little less electric-guitar centric. Townshend is present, more so on the acoustic, and instead the rhythm is provided by the great piano work of Nicky Hopkins. He wasn’t a member of the group, but whenever he was on a Who track he could always make them that much better. Same applies here. Look out for those runs he pulls off on the keys. In fact, on the original mix his piano is a lot more upfront in the mix with Keith Moon’s drums pushed way to the back. I’m more accustomed to the ’90s mix, so that difference always sounded unusual to me. It’s down below, select your preference.

#953: Cloud Nothings – Now Hear In

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‘Now Hear In’ stands as the first song I ever heard by Cloud Nothings. Attack on Memory had passed me by, and it was in 2014 when Here and Nowhere Else was released and got an 8.7 on Pitchfork that I thought this may be an album I could get behind. I don’t think I listened to the whole thing at once. I remember it being quite late at night. But ‘Now Hear In’ was right there, so it only made sense to at least hear one song before going to bed. The opening riff sounded inviting enough. Then Dylan Baldi begins singing a really accessible melody. Alongside the rough guitars and grimy rhythm section, the track made sense then and there.

I’ve written about a few songs from this album now. One quite recently as a matter of fact, so I’m at the risk of repeating a lot of things I say in those other posts here too. You can have a look back. I know what I’m about to mention is in almost all of them and that’s Jayson Gerycz’s drumming. All throughout the album, he plays at what feels like a beat earlier than all the guitars around him. Adds a sense of urgency and provides a solid rush throughout the whole album. As the first song I’d ever heard, it was strange hearing the drums being played this way. But as the naïve 18-year-old I was, it certainly scratched a mental itch that I hadn’t known existed up to that point.

I’d like to think I’ve got a grip about what this track is about. Maybe it’s not as clear-cut as I think it is. But I’ve always seen it as song about an apathetic person who’s thinks life is all right, trying to find the exciting stuff in it, but it’s mostly the same experiences each day. They’ve got a friend or a significant other who pretty much feel the same way, and it’s with that common link that they get along with each other than most other people. All in all though, they’re not very impressed with a lot that goes on. The lyrics do introduce a theme of living in the now, but the track itself doesn’t resolve that theme in the most positive way. That’s not until the album’s final track. And it’s with that uncertainty that we’re left with a fine album opener. Always have a good time with this one.

#947: Blink-182 – Not Now

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I’ll always think of this track as Blink-182’s last ever song. It was the track released after their break-up in 2005, and its music video consisting of clips from their old videos and footage of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker goofing off or posing for pictures, very much gave off the idea of “This is the end, but thanks for everything.” Then as we all know, they got back together a few years later, Tom then left, Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio joined and they’re still going somewhat strong today. But this definitely capped off what was the band’s golden era. And I guess their cover of The Only Ones’ ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ was the coda in a way.

‘Not Now’ was recorded during the sessions for the band’s untitled/self-titled record that was released in 2003. You can find a documentary online based on the making of that album, and you’ll come across footage of DeLonge working on the song’s acoustic guitar in there. The song wasn’t included on the final product though, and was instead giving the bonus track treatment on some versions and placed as a B-side to ‘I Miss You’ when that was released as a single. But fast forward two years and it was selected as the single to promote the band’s Greatest Hits compilation. With an overarching theme of death and going into it head-on, I’m guessing that it was considered to be the most appropriate song to represent the band’s end.

But man, this track contains one of Blink’s best performances as a group. Travis Barker is firing on all cylinders, I don’t think there’s a large period of time where he stops hitting the drums. Tom DeLonge’s voice is maybe at its peak here. Its at that point where it hasn’t transitioned to his vocal shift that was present in his first Angels & Airwaves album, but it’s getting there, yet it still has that youthful punk energy to it. Everything’s delivered at this frantic pace. Things calm down for the choruses, but then the music always explodes back into the instrumentals. It’s such a great dynamic. Hoppus doesn’t have much of a standout presence on this track, I’ve noticed. Of course he plays bass, and I think he has a harmony vocal at one point. I’ll assume that’s another reason why he was against having ‘Not Now’ as the lead single for their Greatest Hits. But really, I don’t think there could have been a better choice.