Forgive me, friends, it's going to be one of those posts.
Robin said:
I
> do agree that Underachievers Please Try Harder is probably the better album
> - it's one of the best albums I've heard for ages.
To Underachievers Please Try Harder, I'd like to add Holding Hands, Feeding
Ducks by The Brunettes, straight outta, um, New Zealand I think. Hang on,
let me check. Actually no mention of their origin on the album sleeve, but
there's a thank you to Neil Finn, so that must mean they're Kiwis, right?
Perhaps not. The sleeve *does* say that the p in a circle and the c in a
circle were 2002, but I've only just heard about them so I'm counting it as
a 2003 release. Just try and stop me. It's one of those cute, funny, dreamy,
happysad, occasionally twee, more often playful and knowing, amazing,
clever, and inspiring records that makes you want to start badgering people
and making tapes and passing them on, you know *just like back in the day*.
Or 1997, as it's otherwise known.
Robin also said:
> It's funny, I've heard a few people dissing the whole "I'd rather be in
> Tokyo, I'd rather listen to Thin Lizzy-oh" line, because it doesn't rhyme
> properly. I find this very odd. Stuart's lyrics have never really rhymed
> properly. In Lord Anthony he rhymes "toff" with "maths". I don't think
> rhyming has ever had anything to do with why i like Stuart's lyrics. Anyone
> can use a rhyming dictionary if they want to. I expect he doesn't want to.
I agree.
Two points. One: mere rhyming doesn't denote talent. It certainly has
nothing to do with a great song. The best songs are always just off-rhyme,
things that shouldn't rhyme but do, because of the phrasing, the delivery,
the emotion, or all of the above. Two: the quoted couplet is actually very
clever - you can almost see the smirk on his face as he's singing it. You
have to be a good lyricist to pull off that kind of crazy shit, girlfriend.
It's all very well to moan "oh, it's just sticking an -o on the end" but
no-one else thought of it did they? The best ideas are always as plain as
the face on your nose. The fact that, as Senor Chu pointed out at our recent
coffee morning, it's actually a nod to Thin Lizzy's cover of "Whiskey In The
Jar", which goes "I'll have a whiskey in the jar-o" makes it even better. Do
you see? How many levels? It's working on? That's right: two.
It's also funny. Which is good enough for me. Three levels then. Well, two
and a half.
That's about it.
This album by The Brunettes is still great, by the way.
Bless them.
x
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