Album: Three Sheets to The Wind.
Year: 1985.
A blistering blast of guitars, guitars, angst and guitars, The Chant’s “ … For You” was a helluva way to start off their debut album Three Sheets to The Wind. It also pretty much overshadowed the rest of their debut album, and pretty much became the only thing I ever played from it.
That’s on me, but to be fair, there were very few musical moments in the 80s I loved more than when lead singer Walter Czachowski incants:
No rhyme no reason no sleep no tears no easy way out of here
And I knowww it’s not your fault
So I wrote it all down for youuuuuuuuu
Ohhhhhh hooooooo ohhhhhhhhhhh
And as at least two guitars take very long, very indie solos, It would have been fine if the song just ended after the guitarists had run out of steam, but Czachowski has more he needs to say, so after breaking the song down into a Peter Buck jangle, he continues:
And IIIII knoww that I’m not the one you’ve been looking for
And I know oh yes I know that I’m never gonna be the one
You come running to
I knowI know
I know
I know
I know
I know
I know
I knoww
And I’m finished now, so I wrote it all down for youuuuuu
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh hooooooooo ohhhhhhhhhhh
Cos I splattered my brains all over the wall for youuuuuuuuu
For youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
And as the guitars come back into their sloppy solos. This time one, two, three, four lord knows how many all I know is that it goes on and on for the last two minutes of the song and it could go on for two hours or days or centuries and it wouldn’t be long enough.
In 1985, a year where I nursed two or three (or a million, it’s hard to keep track) unrequited crushes, this kind of self-pity anchored to scorching guitars was perfectly up my alley. This wasn’t a song that I loved because of the lyrics – I mean they could have been singing about space people or jesus or food and I would have loved it a ton – but the words, and the intensity of the singing put it over the top.
Extra added trivia: I don’t think he played on this track, but internet research on The Chant indicates that one of their later guitarists was a guy named Gregory Dean Smalley, who was the inspiration for a song that I’ll definitely be writing about in the future, The Drive-by Truckers’ “The Living Bubba.” And speaking of Drive-by Truckers, it’s too bad that Smalley didn’t play on “… For You,” because that would a helluva reason for them to cover it.
Fan-made video for “ … For You”