Archives for March 2022

Certain Songs #2321: Snow Patrol – “Spitting Games”

March 21, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Final Straw
Year: 2003

. . .

No, not that Snow Patrol song. That Snow Patrol song is called “Chasing Cars” and is objectively one of the most popular rock songs of the entire 21st century, having made it to #5 on the Billboard charts and into top tens all over the world. Also, it’s been played nearly a billion times on Spotify (OK, closer to 900,000,000 as of this writing, but still), and a couple of years ago was declared the most-played song on U.K. radio in the 21st century.

“Chasing Cars” is perfectly fine, and definitely the answer to the question “what if U2, but with a baritone vocalist?” But the Snow Patrol song I’ve always loved is 2003’s “Spitting Games,” which, uh, reminded me of R.E.M. if their singer were Irish.

Certain Songs #2320: The Sneetches – “Unusual Sounds”

March 19, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Sometimes That’s All We Have
Year: 1989

. . .

How in the world did I miss The Sneetches? They were a power-pop band named after Dr. Seuss characters based in San Francisco who started recording in 1985. Given my love for obscure San Francisco-based 80s bands like The Cat Heads or X-Tal, you’d think that at some point, The Sneetches — who recorded through 1995 — would have crossed my radar while they were still a going concern.

Certain Songs #2319: Snail Mail – “Valentine”

March 18, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Valentine
Year: 2021

. . .

A couple of years ago, a Twitter reply guy messaged me and asked me if he was correct in assuming that I stopped listening to new music in the 2000s. Because all he knew about me was Certain Songs, and Certain Songs is heavily weighted towards music of the last century. Of couurse, there were more decades in the 1900s than there have been in the 2000s, so that’s part of it, but honestly, it’s mostly music from the 70s-90s that I focus on. You know, music that came out while I was young.

That said, I’ve written about more post-1999 songs than I’ve written about pre-1970 songs, and anybody who knows me knows that i’ve probably listened to more music – a wider variety of artists and genres — in the past two decades than I ever did when I was young. Which might be part of the reason that Certain Songs skews older: the more songs that are in my life — and my curated iTunes library shows 41,000 at this point — the harder it is for a new song to make an impression.

Certain Songs #2318: Snail Mail – “Pristine”

March 17, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Lush
Year: 2018

. . .

In the last half-decade or so, there was a microtrend of young female artists who got noticed by writing “songs” based around “guitars.” Some of them, like Phoebe Bridgers, made music under their own names, others like Lindsey Jordan, recorded under band names. Jordan records as “Snail Mail” a phrase that is older than she is. But, intentionally or not, ties her back to the 90s, when that was a new term.

And so on “Pristine,” the first single from the first Snail Mail album, Lush, Jordan’s slightly echoing guitar drives the song ever forward, as she’s singing about a love object who doesn’t necessarily love her back.

Certain Songs #2317: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles – “The Tears of a Clown”

March 16, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Tears of a Clown
Year: 1970

. . .

So a guy walks into a psychiatrist’s office and says to the psychiatrist, he sez: “Doc, I’ve been really really depressed lately. You see, my baby left me, and I just can’t keep from crying.”

And the psychiatrist says: “What you need is music. Music makes everybody happy. As it turns out, the great Motown group Smokey Robinson and The Miracles are in town tonight. You should go see them, as the lovely tenor voice of Smokey Robinson will do both your heart and your soul a world of good.”

At that, the guy bursts into tears and exclaims: “But Doctor, I am Smokey Robinson!”

Certain Songs #2316: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles – “I Second That Emotion”

March 15, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Single, 1967

. . .

Legend has it that Smokey Robinson & co-songwriter Al Cleveland were out shopping and and Cleveland responded to something Smokey said with “I second that emotion” rather than “I second that motion,” and just like that, one of Smokey Robinson’s greatest songs was born.

Certain Songs #2315: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles – “The Tracks of My Tears”

March 14, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Going to a Go-Go
Year: 1965

. . .

Well, after over a month of The Smiths, I’m just glad that we can move on to other music that isn’t about being sad and miserable, you know?

And so today, let’s talk about ::checks notes:: oh. Huh . . . welp, “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, which is all about being sad and miserable. Also, I just realized that the song that was immediately before the long Smiths run was “Drown in My Own Tears” by The Smithereens and not only did none of the Smiths songs have “tears” in the title, the only one I can remember that specifically talked about crying was “How Soon is Now?”

All 36 Smiths Certain Songs, Ranked

March 13, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Just like I did after I finished the Rolling Stones, here’s my ranking of all of the Smiths songs I wrote about. As always, don’t take it too seriously, as I did it in an afternoon, mostly, and as with all rankings, could be totally different now.

Oh, and of course, I’m ranking the songs, not the posts. Though I do hope there is some kind of correlation.

Certain Songs #2314: The Smiths – “Paint A Vulgar Picture”

March 11, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Strangeways, Here We Come
Year: 1987

. . .

“On their hands – at last! – a dead star”

Have you ever had a relationship that seemed to end because a switch went off? And somebody who loved you suddenly didn’t?

That’s kinda what happened with Johnny Marr just after the recording of Strangeways, Here We Come in May of 1987. In the previous , they’d recorded two albums worth of high-quality material (if you count all of the singles & b-sides, and you know you should) as well as embarked on long tours. And he was also kinda managing the band. And Morrissey. The upshot was that he needed some time off, and was planning to take a couple of weeks vacation here in sunny Southern California. Two weeks! Recharge, and figure out what was next for The Smiths.

My guess is that the next album would have gone even deeper on the relative lack of guitar and the over orchestrated songs that characterized Strangeways, Here We Come, and I might have disliked it. But I would have loved their 6th album, the return to their roots.

Certain Songs #2313: The Smiths – “Girlfriend in a Coma”

March 10, 2022 by Jim Connelly

Album: Strangeways, Here We Come
Year: 1987

. . .

“Do you really think she’ll pull through?”

Even for The Smiths, Strangeways, Here We Come was a morbid album, starting with a song narrated by a ghost, and featuring several songs about recently deceased — rock stars, disco dancers, etc — or in the case of “Girlfriend in a Coma,” soon to be deceased, people. And while it’s not really a competition, “Girlfriend in a Coma” just might be the most morbid. Also, it might be the darkly funniest, a George Constanza plotline before that was a thing.