I gotta stop reading about depressing stuff. Yesterday’s blog entry had some deep thought, and now I’m seeing everything on the bleak side.
One of my favorite albums of 2009 is Wilco’s “Wilco (the album)”, mostly because I think Jeff Tweedy is a genius and I pretty much buy anything they put out. And without exception, I never like a Wilco album when I first buy it and it takes a while to grow on me. I bought this album last summer. Today when I listened to it again it made a little more sense me to me than just a collection of cool songs.
Today I realized that every song on this album deals with finality, resignation, and accepting life as it is. Some songs are happy and upbeat, and some songs are slow and thoughtful; some are acoustic, and some are instrumentally heavy: all follow the same thread. Shall we begin with narcissistic self-reflection?
1. Wilco (The Song)
There’re so many wars that just can’t be won
Even before the battle’s begun
This is an aural arms open wide
A sonic shoulder for you to cry on
Wilco
Wilco will love you baby
Let's continue with the story of a deep-thinking pugilist:
2. Deeper Down
Underneath the ocean floor
A part of who we are we don’t explore
I adore
The meaninglessness of the this
We can’t express
In perhaps the most overt metaphor I've ever heard from Tweedy (he's usually a lot more subtle), a busted relationship is compared to two separated wings of a bird:
3. One Wing
One wing will never ever fly
Neither yours nor mine
One wing will never ever fly, dear
Neither yours nor mine, I fear
We can only wave goodbye
Sometimes things suck because we screwed them up so much that they're almost impossible to fix:
4. Bull Black Nova
If I’m the one with blood on my sofa
Blood in the sink, blood in the trunk
High at the wheel of a bull black Nova
Then I’m sorry as the setting sun
This can’t be undone
Can’t be outrun
The worst part of this situation is that he's trying to outrun his problems in a piece of shit Chevy Nova. Bummer, dude. This drives us right into a tender love ballad with an unsatisfying center:
5. You and I
Oh, I don’t want to know
Oh, I don’t want to know
Oh, I don’t need to know
Everything about you
Oh, I don’t want to know
And you don’t need to know
That much about me
Don't be so depressed. You're not the first to feel this way. Every generation thinks it's the last, thinks it's the end of the world:
6. You Never Know
It’s a dream down a well
It’s a long, heavy hell
I don’t care anymore, I don’t care anymore
It’s a fear to transcend, if we’re here at the end
I don’t care anymore, I don’t care anymore
You never know
Oh wait. It IS that bad. To add insult to injury, our misfortune is just fodder for TV news:
7. Country Disappeared
Hold out your hand
There’s so much we don’t understand
So stick as close as you can
To all of your best laid plans
You’ve got the white clouds hanging so high above you
You’ve got the helicopters dangling, angling to shoot
The shots to feed the hungry weekend news crew anchormen
So every evening we can watch from above
Crush the cities like a bug
Fold ourselves into each other’s guts
Turn our faces up to the sun
Don't beat yourself up so much, though; it's not all your fault:
8. Solitaire
Once I thought without a doubt
I had it all figured out
Universe with hands unseen
I was cold as gasoline
Took too long to see
I was wrong to believe in me only
Your life is dust and that's all there is to it, even if you try really hard:
9. I'll Fight
I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go
I’ll go for you
I’ll fight, I’ll fight, I’ll fight
I’ll fight for you
I’ll die, I’ll die, I’ll die
I’ll die for you
I will, I will, I will
And if I die, I’ll die, I’ll die alone
On some forgotten hill
Abandoned by the mill
All my blood will spring and spill
I’ll thrash the air, then be still
You’ll wake with a start from a dream
And know that I am gone
You’ll feel it in your heart but not for very long
You might as well make the most of it, be thankful for what you have, and sing a happy tune, like the next one, which is the most musically upbeat song on the album, even if it has a tragic ending:
10. Sonny Feeling
You know it’s true
The other shoe
It waits for you
What can you do?
Remember to show gratitude
The darkest night is nothing new
...
A sunny feeling is taken away
And now we come to the final conclusion of every great rock-n-roll song cycle: "In the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.":
11. Everlasting Everything
Oh I know this might sound sad
But everything goes, both the good and the bad
So it all adds up, and you should be glad
Everlasting love is all you had
Everlasting everything
Nothing could mean anything at all
I won't be so cynical tomorrow, I promise.
cds
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