We all have our favorite songs, the ones that we just fell in love with the first time we heard them. But what about those songs that creep up on you? You know the ones. You ignored them at first or were simply indifferent to them. Sometimes you downright disliked them. But over time, you listened to them again and again until one day something just clicked and you realized, "Hey, I love this song!" Maybe it just took hearing it in the right situation or being in the right mood but suddenly you have a whole new appreciation for that song you couldn't care less about yesterday.
I'll tell you a secret. For several years this is actually how I felt about ALL TMBG music. My boyfriend has always been a fan so I definitely heard their music: riding in the car, playing in the background in the apartment, tucked into mix CDs he gave me. I never disliked it, there were even songs I quite enjoyed but I was, overall, pretty indifferent. Somehow it took the right time and the right song for it all to click with me. Then it was like opening a flood gate and I couldn't believe it took me so long to see the light.
Today's Audience Participation is dedicated to those songs that came late to the party. The ones you didn't realize you loved until one day you did. Which is why it is called:
5 Songs I Didn't Realize I Loved Until I Did
5. Pencil Rain - This song used to irritate me, though I don't know why. Then I read an article about They Might Be Giants in which the writer referred to this song as "an ode to urination." I thought, "What the hell? Have I just been totally missing something?" I went back and listened to it again while reading the lyrics and though I have no idea where the guy got the urination idea, I did suddenly realize that, when taken literally, it is about actual pencils falling from the sky. And this gave me a whole new appreciation for it.
4. She's An Angel - I was indifferent to this song until I was having a conversation about whether or not there was a TMBG song appropriate to use as a first dance song at a wedding and suddenly realized this is probably the closest thing to a love song they've got. At least in my opinion. And then I loved it.
3. Metal Detector - This one took hearing Linnell talk about his inspiration for the song on Studio 360. Not only was it eye opening but the book that inspired it was written about treasure hunting on beaches that I know from my childhood which was pretty cool.
2. Self Called Nowhere - Part of my John Henry awakening. From talking to other fans, it seems that pretty much everyone has a weak link when it comes to TMBG albums. Meaning, there is just one album that you aren't as familiar with and haven't listened to as much. The one you are always surprised to discover a song is on because part of your brain has ignored it's existence. John Henry is mine. But I had my boyfriend's copy in the car for a few days recently and realized that not only do I love this song, but it is probably my favorite of all the albums and I just didn't know it. Huh?
1. Subliminal - I know I've told this story before but I did not love this song until I heard it live. Or at least I didn't know I loved it. But the first time I heard it live was such a startlingly intense experience I think I had chills. It is one of my very favorite live show memories. Now every time I hear those opening accordion notes they make my heart soar. Which is an incredibly dorky thing to say but so true. Incidentally, the beginning of this has always reminded me of Paul Simon's The Boy in the Bubble.
I look forward to seeing your selections. And does anybody have a picture they want to submit for Wednesday? I don't have an entry yet. I can make one but I'd love to give someone else a turn.
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Neat topic! To be honest, for me, it applies to way too many songs to list them all - I'm fickle. |D But here are five that came to mind.
ReplyDelete5. Shoehorn with Teeth - Lincoln was the album that really drew me into TMBG, but this didn't really stand out for me initially. It was only on stumbling across a couple of different videos of it from the early 2000s that I learned to love the glockenspiel. (These days I tend to mime it when I listen to the song. It's that awesome.)
4. Wicked Little Critta - Of course it's written for a really specific audience which I don't belong to, and I'm a fan of neither sports nor spoken word things in general. I'm still not sure why I started finding it really cute; it just magically appeared on my mp3 player's most played list after a while.
3. Youth Culture Killed My Dog - When I first listened to it, cautiously trying to get familiar with a few of the songs that didn't have videos, I really didn't take to it - actually, the raw indie-ness put me off half of the album, but this song I disliked in particular. I only realised it had grown on me a few months after starting to identify as a properly obsessive fan, after I caught myself singing it.
2. Happy Doesn't Have to Have an Ending - It's got such an uplifting theme, this is one of my favourite TMBG kid songs now. It wasn't when I bought the book; I remember thinking the spoken parts were slightly weird and cringeworthy. A few months later, I was in the car on the way home from an aunt's funeral (just to be extra cheerful), and my mp3 player shuffle brought this song up - and I suddenly felt like it was the most appropriate song possible for that given moment. It's light-hearted on the surface, but the chorus goes deep.
1. She's an Angel - For a little while, I knew it was a fan favourite and I thought it was okay, but unspectacular. Then, one day, I started screwing around with some drum machine software I'd discovered (as you do when you have free time) and thought it would be cool to try recording a fan cover of it, because the arrangement is relatively simple. That idea still hasn't come to fruition nearly a year later, but it did mean I listened to it on repeat quite a lot, and somewhere along the line I realised just how pretty the song actually is.
Happy Doesn't Have to Have an Ending almost made it onto my last list of favorite kid songs. It is definitely in my top 20 kid songs and it did take a while to grow on me.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved Wicked Little Critta. But then I live in Massachusetts so I think I AM that specific audience.
I love your descriptions of how you came to like the songs :-) Glockenspiel!!
No particular order (I can't put things in order efficiently), and compiled somewhat quickly (there's probably more):
ReplyDelete•Out of Jail -- I can't explain. I wasn't attracted to it at first, but after a few listens, I liked it. A lot. While driving with my brother recently, he noted that it's "the definition of a TMBG song [musically]" (I believe he meant musically anyway). And I stepped back and noticed. Am I wrong to think so?
•Kiss Me, Son of God -- I can't explain why I was put off by this either. I think it's a beautiful song. But, in my interpretation, I think it's about the overthrow of a government for some totalitarian state-- a little bit of a dark theme. It's just that the music is so beautiful; it's too short of a song, but it wouldn't be as perfect any other way.
•Damn Good Times -- I guess I'm weird, because everybody seems to enjoy this song. It was just this moment where I realized how this song really captures a happy, fleeting moment of a party of sorts.
•S-E-X-X-Y -- I think I had to just take it as slightly humorous and kind of funky, the latter speaking musically. I took a lot of their songs very seriously, and, while their lyrics are pretty deep most of the time, sometimes it's just for fun.
•New Hampshire -- And yes, I know that technically, it's not TMBG. I didn't hate this song. I just... I can't explain this one either. Sometimes, I have to finally interpret a song successfully to finally love it. This was one. I'll spare the interp because I mentioned mine for Kiss Me, Son of God.
And honorable mention:
•New York City -- I mean it. I used to skip this song all the time. After my first show, where it was the encore-- just this single song-- it impacted me (Plus, there's a semi-fangirly Linnell story for that encore, but I'll spare you). And I decided that I loved New York City, and all it stood for; it stood for love, and for happiness, and for being bright-eyed and young... and for the city I grew up taking trips to, the city I will now attend university in. So this one went ultimately from being a skip song, to being rather personal.
Apologies for being verbose. <3
But I want to hear the semi-fangirly Linnell story! And you are talking to the queen of verbose here so no need to apologize :-)
ReplyDeleteIt is really funny that you mentioned needing to interpret a song in order to love it because I was thinking a lot about interpretations today. I think I am the total opposite. I think I love songs more if I don't need to interpret them, either because they are very literal or make so little sense that I don't bother.
I am still not 100% sold on S-E-X-X-Y. I can never decide how I feel about it. I'm not crazy about the recorded version but I sort of enjoy it live.
Damn Good Times however, was among the very first songs I loved.
I love how different everyone's tastes are.
Yet another interesting audience participation topic. :)
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking recently that there are a lot of things I've once disliked or not cared for which somehow almost suddenly became things I loved or really enjoyed for some reason. But there are very few things that I've enjoyed that I suddenly dislike.
Your blog must have been reading my mental newspaper.
That said, I'm not sure I can compile a list yet. But I will say that I, too, was a bit indifferent to several of the songs on "John Henry" when I first purchased it. It was sort of a whim investment, made mostly because I'd listened to and LOVED "No One Knows My Plan", "I Should Be Allowed To Think", "The End Of The Tour", "Why Must I Be Sad?", "Snail Shell", and "A Self Called Nowhere"; partially because I'd read that John Henry was an underappreciated album; and partially because I needed some new TMBG and just decided to order it at FYE one day. But it took me very little time to love the rest of them. Well, there ARE still a couple of songs on the album that I'm not crazy about, but for the most part, I love it.
And I want to hear the semi-fangirly Linnell story too! :D
When I listen to albums for the first time, I usually give each song a cursory listen and decide immediately whether I like it or not. The ones I like get put onto a special playlist and the ones I don't like stay on my iPod but are relegated to the general playlist. These are all songs I decided I didn't care for, but eventually crept into the special playlist over time.
ReplyDelete5. AKA Driver. Can't explain. I really love the lyrics and the chorus is fun to sing.
4. Spy. Didn't like this at ALL until I heard it on a live recording from NC in 2007.
3. Hide Away Folk Family. I skipped a lot of songs on the Pink Album until I started listening to it on vinyl and couldn't skip around as easily.
2. Museum of Idiots. This is a total travesty, I know, but I didn't get into this song until I started listening to The Spine more. I am a little embarrassed to even include it here. Yikes. Moving on.
1. I've Got A Match. Again, just didn't like it much when I first heard it.