Album: Boylan Heights
Year: 1987.
In the darker days of late 1987 — when the running joke among my little tribe was that our universe had so sped up that the only possible result was that the world ending on January 1, 1988 — one of the little pieces of sanity I hung onto was a cassette tape I made.
Now, of course, I made tons of cassette tapes. Tons and tons and tons. And this tape was nothing special, except that it contained two records that were both thematically and musically simpatico: Bobby Sutliff’s Only Ghosts Remain and The Connells’ Boylan Heights. Both were guitar-pop albums produced by Mitch Easter and released on TVT records. And both were full of songs about relationships falling apart, so they resonated with me both musically and lyrically.
The lead track on Boylan Heights, “Scotty’s Lament,” starts off as a bouncy Highland reel before transforming into speedy rock ‘n’ roll call-and-response. While the backing vocals are declaring “So surprised” lead singer Doug MacMillan expresses just what they were so surprised about.
(So surprised) I had visions
(So surprised) You were in them
I found my place in this world.
And then in the chorus, they steal on of my favorite tricks from the R.E.M. handbook: where the backing vocalists are singing something completely different than the lead singer. It’s pretty blatant, but given that Mitch Easter is the producer, I’ll allow it. Because it’s also incredibly catchy.
It’s you I swear
It’s you I swear
(I’ll)
I delight in my despair
(wait for you)
It’s you I swear
it’s you I swear
(I’ll)
Giving me the right
(Wait for you)
It’s you who lied
it’s you who lied
(I’ll)
When you had to swallow pride
(Wait for you)
It’s you I swear
it’s you I swear
For me, “Scotty’s Lament” with the perfect beginning to that cassette, which I listened to over and over again in my mid-80s Toyota Corolla hatchback driving to and from Video Zone or Fresno State or the Tower District during those weird dark days.
Oh, and, of course, the world didn’t end on January 1, 1988. (Or at least I don’t think so.) We all made sure of that by staying up until dawn during that New Years Eve. But that’s a story for another song.
Official Video for “Scotty’s Lament”