Song of the Day - Day 661

Today's song is...


Stand On Your Own Head

This is a song that I didn't pay much attention to for the longest time, probably until about the point when the band announced they were going to be doing Lincoln shows. Because I pulled out the album again at that point to give it a good total listen and discovered that this is actually on of my favorite songs on it. The lyrics are great and I enjoy the drum beat, but really I am just in love with the banjo part. I would say I am a particular banjo fan, but right here it really works for me.

The first time I saw the band perform Lincoln, at Mohegan Sun last November, this was one of the two songs I was most excited to hear. And it ended up being one of those show moments that is preserved in my brain like it was on film, because it made such an impression on me. Just before the song started, I watched Dan take a piece of paper he had torn off of something and fold it up into a strip and then weave it into the strings on his guitar. Not being much of a guitar buff, I didn't have a clue what he was doing, but apparently it had something to do with making the guitar sound more like a banjo. I had been wondering how they were going to handle the banjo part, and they handled it by having Dan play it on guitar. And I was transfixed. I could not believe how fast his fingers were moving. I don't think I looked at anyone else the whole song. At one point, I nudged Heather, who was standing beside me, and indicated that she should be watching Dan and then we both stood there, staring, until the song finished. Afterward, someone else told me, it wasn't really that impressive. Just a picking pattern. But damn, it looked (and sounded) impressive to me.