Today's song is...
Ana Ng
Hard to believe it took 443 songs to get here. This has been what I considered the last hold out of the major TMBG tracks to hit SOTD and it finally turned up on the first click of the random button this morning. It is, arguably, one of the best songs in the entire catalog, certainly in my top 10. The songs grabs you immediately with that "bomp ba bomp bomp" opening. It's like, hello, wake up, here it comes. And I am not usually one to get excited about guitar riffs but man, this song has a good one. And if you've been paying attention at all, you'll know I am completely obsessed with the bass line in the chorus, more so live than on the recording, but it is very much among my top five TMBG musical phrases.
This is also one of those songs where the music and lyrics are equally strong. It's not a song I love for one or the other, but rather the whole package. And it's nearly impossible to pick a favorite lyric because the whole song is just chock-a-block full of good ones. I can't even start listing them because I'd just write out the whole song. I think my personal favorite is "And the truth is we don't know anything." The story told in these lyrics is sad and beautiful and romantic and just a little crazy. And it's so perfect.
My favorite Ana Ng live story happened in Chicago a couple of years ago. The band had just finished playing Drink! in the second encore, with Linnell on the accordion and the Johns wanted to drag out the show a little longer with something not on the setlist. Linnell, without warning, busted into the beginning of Ana Ng on the accordion. The rest of the guys scrambled to catch up. Dan was playing the wrong guitar for the song and just kind of shrugged and went with it. Flans and Danny joined in pretty seamlessly. But Marty had been sitting at the electronic drum kit and had to bolt at race car speeds across the stage to the drum riser. And as soon as he finally picked up the beat, Linnell swapped out the accordion for the keyboard and they proceeded through a killer performance of the song, that is my favorite to this day.
People ask me all the time why I love this band and there are certain songs I feel like I should just be able to present as explanation. This is one of them.
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Found it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JINCuJT8NkM
ReplyDeleteIndeed you did! And it's such a great quality video too!! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the first TMBG songs I heard and the first one I fell in love with. Something about "they don't need me here and I know you're there / where the world goes by like the humid air" really appealed to me in high school.
ReplyDeleteI remember playing this song on repeat on one of the most humid days of the summer very very early on in my adoration of TMBG. It was the first moment ever when I realized I had a favorite band.
ReplyDelete