iPod song of the week – Matthew Sweet
This week I was having a discussion with Kay over e-mail about what were the bitterest songs we knew. I have several good choices but I think this one tops my list. Maybe I’ll share the others at some later date. In any case, I was hesitant to use this song because he has much better ones and really, if the purpose of this exercise is to remind you of songs you once liked, I should really go with the 1995 hit, “Sick of Myself.†But I wasn’t reminded of that song this week, I was reminded of this other one.
Matthew Sweet is one of my favorite artists and the album from which this comes, Girlfriend, is my absolute #1 album of all time. The year I got turned onto him I was working at the record store where we would spend long, boring afternoons debating what the most depressing song on this album is. There are many candidates. But I always thought of this song because, you know, it took him years to figure out everything he has figured out in this song. But now I kind of know better. This is a song of bitterness, not a song of depression, and since Matthew was going through a divorce at the time, I guess he knew what he was talking about. It’s not even the lyrics so much although they give you the reason for his bitterness, but more the way he spits them out, his hurt and his anger and his indignation in every line.
The other great thing about this song and this album is that they are entirely under-produced. All you hear is the song; this one has a false start (with an apology!), is acoustic, and there are no drums on it at all. It could almost be a demo.
