Album: Fields
Year: 1982
One of the questions we are constantly debating at the Certain Songs Home Office is this: what do we do when an album only has a couple of great songs? Do I do them both, or do I only do one, because I don’t want to mislead people on how great the album is?
I realize that it’s called “Certain Songs” and not “Certain Albums” for a reason, but it’s also reasonable to believe that if I do a bunch of songs from a specific album, I’m also tacitly endorsing the album. Especially since I’m usually overtly endorsing the album in the posts.
This is not the case with The Individuals album, Fields, which has two all-time classic songs surrounded by a bunch of not-quite-there material.
That said, the opening song from Fields, “My Three Sons (Revolve Around the Earth)” is like the ur-American Indie song, and would be counted as a huge influence on everything that followed for the next 15 years, from R.E.M. to Archers of Loaf, if only I was convinced that anybody had actually heard it.
(Though given that it was produced by the dB’s Gene Holder and engineered by Mitch Easter, I’m guessing that at least Peter Buck heard it.)
Barreling out of the box with brightly churning guitar, guitarist Glen Morrow joyously brags:
My three sons revolve around the earth
They’ve been doing it since the day of their birth
My three sons are young and able
Catch them drinking at the kitchen table
And for the chorus, bassist Janet Wygal and guitarist Jon Light Klages join the celebration with a shouted
My three my three my three my three
Soonnnnnnnnnnnnnns
My three my three my three my three
Soonnnnnnnnnnnnnns
And after that, their harmonies are all over the rest of the song — answering every line Morrow sings with a “ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh”as Wygals bass revolves around the rest of the music and Klages battles back with a pair of long, chordal guitar solos.
At some point, there’s a modulation, and even better, a breakdown invoking The Handclap Rule as Morrow brags:
Catch ’em floating ’round in the neighbors pool
Catch ’em floating ’round in the neighbors pool
There is so much going on in “My Three Sons (Revolve Around The Earth)” it’s almost impossible to capture everything that makes it great. And it’s not even their best song.
“My Three Sons (Revolve Around The Earth)”
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