Album: High School
Year: 2022
. . .
So I’ll admit it up front: I’m basically 1000% ignorant about the comedy, acting, and musical career of Tim Heidecker. Like, I knew that he was a person that existed in the universe, and I knew that his Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! was also a thing. But it — or any of his other shows or podcasts, etc — was never a thing that I ever checked out. No insult intended, but there is more popular culture than there is time, and I’m probably outside of the right demographic.
So I’m unclear as to why I decided to listen to his 2022 album, High School. Maybe it was a couple of good reviews? Anyways, I very much enjoyed the easy-rolling folk rock, simple but catchy melodies and well-observed lyrics of High School, all of which inform the lead track, “Buddy,” which was aimed at a high school archetype, the early burnout.
Buddy, I’ve been thinking ’bout you
And all of the shit that you’ve been through
Nothing, nothing ever worked out right
The only time you smiled is after a few drinks at night
Nothing, nothing ever went your way
You told me that things would be better someday
And in case you can’t tell: there is no derision here, no making fun of titular buddy — which I’m assuming is more of a greeting than a proper name — which is brought to the fore by the “here but by the grace of god go I” second verse.
Lately, I’ve been thinking ’bout those days
Walkin’ in your bedroom and seeing you through the haze
Listening, listening to Pink Floyd and Queen
The Beastie Boys and Rage Against the Machine
We turned it up so you didn’t have to hear
The yelling going on downstairs
Of course, the references to the Beasties and RATM set “Buddy” squarely in the 1990s, but you could substitute Led Zeppelin and Rush and Van Halen, and wham, you’re in the 1970s. Or update it to whatever the kids are listening to these days. Assuming that kids still go over to their friends houses to hang out and listen to music, who knows? While he’s thinking about it, there’s a weirdly pensive guitar solo burbling underneath the rest of the song, always threatening to burst out but never quite doing so.
In the final verse, Heidecker sings about how they lost touch the second he moved away, and that also rings pretty fucking true: when you’re young, some friendships are so circumstance based that the second those circumstances change, so do the friendships. So neither he nor we know exactly how buddy turned out, but it’s hard not to listen to this song and feel much hope. But, of course, you never know.
“Buddy” Official Music Video
“Buddy” Live in Brooklyn, 2022
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