A Super Positive Jam
My initial plan with this here blog of mine was to leave the first post I did by its lonesome for a while. I had this notion that I should let the idea of the whole thing sink in first, and maybe give people some time to read the first post and digest it.
Then I threw that out the window when I stumbled upon this brand new Okkervil River track, the wryly optimistic "The President's Dead". This is a jangly, upbeat, what-if examination of what the world might be like if the president were to be shot to his death. Will Sheff, who happens to be one of the best modern lyricists in the game, wastes no time in throwing us headfirst into the situation, opening the song as such:
"'The president's dead', the radio said 'dear friends, is it not so horrible?', a shock through my heart like a knife right through bread, the newspaper said 'the president's dead'. The sea doesn't dry and the sky isn't split, but friends it just seems so wrong don't it? A shot from the crowd and a shot in the head, the president's lying on the tarmac dead..."
Holy shit right?
It gets better later.
"I'm a small quiet man, I've got no wars to win, I don't have a big plan. But I love my new place, and I love my old friends, and I scrimp and I save, and one day I'll have kids. I can truthfully say that my day was like that, until the radio playing on the stand by the bed fired out this report and in three words they said, like three shots to my head, 'the president's dead...'"
Sheff packs a bunch of what-if drama into a song that barely runs over the two and a half minute mark, proving that he's a master of wordy and brief indie rock songs, perhaps only beaten these days by John Darnielle AKA the Mountain Goats.
Anyhow, this is worth checking out. Whether he's talking about Bush or not is up for debate. I lean towards yes, but I'm open to any interpretations, of course.
Okkervil River - The Presidents Dead.mp3
posted by Astro Boy | 8:42:00 PM
1 Comments:
Song of the year. Hands down. And as much as Darnielle continues to blow me away ("and send your name up from my lips like a signal flare" makes me cringe every time), Sheff has officially taken my top spot when it comes to songwriters ... until Jeff Mangum comes back (and no, playing cowbell for the Apples in Stereo doesn't warrant comeback hype, but it may get me to see them live. Just in case.).
But anywho, in an attempt to contribute to the potential conversation, I'd argue that he's not necessarily referring to Bush. Granted I can't see Sheff being exactly Pro-Bush, his tendencies don't lead me to assume he wouldn't take that route. The songwriter who has no problem singing his ex-girl friend's name is clearly not going to have any trouble calling out the president by name, but Sheff, on the other hand, is an amazing songwriter because he tells amazing stories. And for the most part I don't particularly find these stories to be based on first person life experiences. Sheff also as a writes a lot of reviews for books, movies, and albums as well as a lot of other non-fiction type articles relating to music and his other interests; you can find some of these articles at:
http://jound.com/will/articles.html
Based on the all the prose and essays he writes, I feel songwriting is where Sheff finds his fiction. Not that the songs aren't important to him personally, but more so in that story-telling sense. I do feel the song is based in present time, but isn’t necessarily a shot at Bush because it would still be strong under any of the mot recent and future presidencies.
As Kevin previously stated, thanks for blessing us with another website to check obsessively; see you soon!
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