Tag Archives: this

#1070: The Raconteurs – Pull This Blanket Off

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Feels like it’s been ages since I last wrote about a Raconteurs song. Actually, it was only a few months ago. But I was thinking that it was even before they had released their most recent album, which is already almost four years old. I listened through Help Us Stranger once. I think once was all I needed, it didn’t leave much of an impression. Nah, Consolers of the Lonely is still the greatest album Brendan Benson, Jack White and co ever did. I’d go ahead even further and say that I think it’s one of the last and best big guitar-centric rock albums to come from the 00s before the whole indie explosion that seemed to erupt from about 2009 onwards. That’s right, this nobody has made this exaggerated statement that anyone will take with a pinch of salt.

I do thoroughly enjoy this album though. A lot of things Jack White’s involved in, I’m not too much a fan of. I like White Stripes songs here and there. Never bothered with his solo stuff. Too much of him is too much for me. But when he’s combined with Benson, I don’t know, something just changes. ‘Pull This Blanket Off’ is yet another example from Consolers… where the dynamic between the two brings the musical touches up a notch. It’s the album’s shortest track, clocking in at just under two minutes. You could consider it to be nothing more than a bit of an interlude moment. But there’s such a dramatic, yearning quality within that I think makes it deserve as much attention as the more “substantive” songs that are alongside it.

White sings the first verse, Benson sings the second, and after an ‘ah-ah’ refrain and short instrumental break, the two harmonise in the next two verses accompanied by the introduction of a warm, thick bass guitar, a patient kick drum and a steady tambourine. What the track is about, I don’t think anyone’s really cared to fully get into. Not from what I can see on the Internet anyway. But I feel like there’s something that’s meant to be very American/patriotic about it. Like the narrator’s trying to believe in this American Dream ideal and trying to stick by their morals, but is disillusioned by their community or things they’ve experienced in their lifetime. It doesn’t get too deep into the message because before you know it, the track comes to an early albeit resolving conclusion with Benson seeing the listener off with a comic “All right, good night.” ‘Rich Kid Blues’, the track that follows, is a bit of a continuation of the theme here though, at least I’d say it is, and that’s 4 and a half minutes in length. I’d suggest you listen to them both in quick succession.

#1002: Fall Out Boy – Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued

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Another album opener, ‘Our Lawyer…’ is the first track on Fall Out Boy’s From Under the Cork Tree. It’s an album that many a fan of the band’s hold dear to their hearts. Has the well-loved classics like ‘Dance, Dance’, ‘A Little Less Sixteen Candles…’ and of course, ‘Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down’. Can’t say I hold the same regard. If there is a best Fall Out Boy, it’s clearly Folie à Deux. Cork Tree for me sounds a bit dated in comparison. A lot of the sentiments on there I just can’t vibe with anymore compared to when I was, let’s say, 13. But it sets off with a great start and a whole lot of self-deprecation and sarcasm, which I’m always all in for – especially when it’s done right.

“Brothers and sisters put this record down / Take my advice ’cause we are bad news” are the opening lines to this track, and for the rest of the track Patrick Stump sings bassist Pete Wentz’s lyrics which further go onto to tell the listeners the myriad ways in which the band will let them down and the superficial things that they’re good for – like celebrity status and fashion sense – that don’t really amount to anything properly meaningful. The track is set to a swinging tempo, but there’s an aggression and heaviness to the way the guitars are played that enables automatic headbanging among the instinctive swaying motion that you have to do with those types of tempos. Patrick Stump sounds like a kid, and he pretty much was – would have been 20 during the making of the album – but for a guy who supposedly wasn’t too confident about his singing, I’d say he does the job well. He’d only become better as the years went on, full embracing his inner soul-singer on Folie à Deux.

The song’s title is one of truth. Its original title was ‘My Name Is David Ruffin And These Are The Temptations’, but the band’s lawyers intervened and made them change the name. Either way, it’s another title of the band’s during that time that were very long, were usually never mentioned in the lyrics at all, and were probably named as such just to get some reaction from the listener. Funnily enough, I think one of the band’s shortest song title is on the same album too, with ‘XO’. That’ll be the next one from the record I do a post on. As I said earlier, not so much a fan of it now. But there’ll be more Fall Out Boy in between, for sure.

#944: The Beatles – Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

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The Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood’ is a tale of infidelity… going wrong? Not that infidelity is the best situation, but in John Lennon’s case he was ready to go until seemingly being mislead and left hanging. Affected by the ordeal, he wrote what became the second track on 1965’s Rubber Soul. Worked on together with the input of the other three guys, it became the first track of its kind to incorporate an Indian instrument into a Western rock recording through George Harrison’s work on the sitar and essentially started the whole India craze in music that lasted for quite a while in that decade.

So, yes, Lennon was gonna cheat on his wife on one occasion, with whom it’s never been revealed, but as we can assume from this song nothing happened leaving him frustrated. He’s invited in, admires the decor, thinks things are going somewhere, the lady has other ideas and leaves, Lennon wakes up from a bath and finds out she’s gone, and whichever way you interpret the ending, he lights a fire and continues admiring the house or burns the whole place down as revenge. The things men think of doing when blue-balled, eh. But the story is delivered in a calming setting, aided by Lennon’s soft vocal, his strong acoustic guitar work, and of course the sitar by Harrison. It’s all so innocent sounding, like a cool breeze, which I think helps in giving the lyrical content another angle. Sometimes you get so lost in the instrumentation that a read of the words would bring on some different feelings. But for me, once that acoustic riff starts it off, I can only ever feel relaxed and not the least concerned about anything else.

I don’t think I knew this song existed until the release of The Beatles: Rock Band in 2009. Rubber Soul was released on the game as DLC, allowing players to go through the whole album with “dreamscapes” included which provided some nice visuals. Probably the closest thing the song could have to a music video. I’m guessing the track was a highlight for me from that point on, but there are a lot of things from when I was 14 that I can’t quite remember clearly. What matters is it’s been a mainstay for all these years. Nice how these things turn out.

#712: Eels – Last Stop: This Town

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Mark Oliver Everett, known as ‘E’ by the majority of people, lost both his mother and sister in tragic circumstances leaving him as the sole living member of his family. Their passing were separated by only a short amount of time, and the sudden drastic change in E’s life became the subject of Eels’ second album Electro-Shock Blues.

‘Last Stop: This Town’ is one of the many songs from the album that are about his sister. In it, Everett makes up the wishful situation where his sister’s spirit appears to him and they fly over the city together for one last time before she leaves him for the final time. I think that’s also what is depicted on the album’s front cover. It’s a saddening matter at hand but still optimistic and beautiful in a way. The track though is up there as one of the record’s most upbeat songs. Co-written by Michael Simpson, known for being one half of the producing Dust Brothers duo, ‘Last Stop’ incorporates harpsichords, keyboarded choir backing vocals, and fat ‘GET DOWN’ DJ scratches that appear during the choruses. It’s definitely designed to be an alternative hit of some kind, with plenty of catchy hooks and great melodies to boot.

Though heartbreaking in its lyrics, the music remains very cheerful in its delivery. I can only suggest its the audio equivalent of making the best out of a bad situation. If that makes any sense.

#644: Teenage Fanclub – Is This Music?

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‘Is This Music?’ is the instrumental that closes out Scottish power pop/alt rock band Teenage Fanclub’s album Bandwagonesque, released back in 1991. I remember listening to this album for the first time, in 2014 according to my computer, and… do you ever have those moments when you hear an album’s first few songs and think – ‘It feels like I’ve known this thing for years ‘cos there is no bad song on here so far’….. or something along those lines? Well, that’s how I felt with this one. Immensely inspired by the work of Big Star, the tracks on Bandwagonesque are quality – all characterised by a grand sense of melody, rhythm and generally great songwriting.

Like a few others on the album, ‘Is This Music?’ is written by the band’s (now former) bassist Gerard Love who actually plays the lead guitar refrain that repeats throughout the song. Norman Blake, another songwriter in the band and usual rhythm guitarist, takes the bass here. There’s nothing much I can say about the track as there’s no vocals nor message that needs to be deciphered or figured out. It’s a great piece of music that although repetitive doesn’t tread the line of annoyance because the licks on here are so memorable. It’s the final point on the album that says thanks for listening, we’re out of here.

Some may also know this as the backing music that played during the ‘goal of the month’ compilation for Match of the Day during the 90s.