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February 19, 2008
"Limb" by Limb
It's weird reading some of the archives around here, in that it read like the most public, most awfully constructed diary ever. I mean, it's pretty much all there. It's not as if I had the good sense to, you know, keep some of the more private stuff private. I just sort of regurgitated it out for all sixteen readers (and countless Google searches) to read as they saw fit.
At its height (or depth, depending on your perspective), I used my relationship with a particular piece of music to make sense of the senseless thoughts going through my head at the outset of this century. I couldn't make heads or tails of my life, so i chose to make some sort of sense out of the music I was listening to on that particular day/week/month. It was about the only way I could approximate some analysis of reality, and as such, became a complete crutch in the way I approached writing. If some song didn't make sense to me, I simply didn't write. I mean, yes, I put words down in pixelated form for general consumption, but that didn't mean I was writing, per say.
In the past few years, that relationship with music has faded, and I'm pretty sure this is for the best, as I didn't want to end up as the real life Nick Hornby protagonist who never managed to have the epiphany needed to realize that a good power chord was no substitute for actual human interaction. At the same time, it's weird, looking back, and seeing the distance between the me of then and the me of now. It's not that I suddenly despise music, far from it. It's just more of a luxury now than a necessity. This would be terrible if I were a music critic; luckily, I'm just a thirty-something guy in Boston with a wife and a job with a 401(k).
But obviously, that doesn't paint the full picture, either, which is why I was more than slightly delighted to find myself brought to near tears tonight riding the train home from work and listening, over and over and over again, to The Shins' "Phantom Limb".
I'm going to be honest; I really don't know what this song's about. The video offers little in the way of clarification. But that's besides the point, I think. For every song that hit me lyrically as well as musically, there are oodles more that hit me one way or the other. Often, such a song takes the form of a catchy hook that sinks into my cerebellum and refuses to let go. In other cases, it's a lyric or set of lyrics that seem particularly apt for whatever reason at a given moment of my life.
With "Phantom Limb", it's the melody: one so absolutely perfectly in sync with my sensibilities that it often stops me dead in my tracks whenever it pops up on "Shuffle" on my iPod. It's the best Beach Boys song that Neil Young ever wrote; but beyond that, it features melodies and chords that are familiar yet completely unique when blended in this manner. Moreover, it's a song that dares to be beautiful in an era in which dissonance and irony are prized more than gold, or oil, or, if you believe recent cinema, milkshakes.
Stopping now for a tangential but relevant sidebar: about a year ago, I heard The Killers' "Read My Mind" on WFNX, a local alt-rock station that, perhaps uncoincidentally, is where I first heard "Phantom Limb". I'm fully convinced that "Read My Mind" is not The Killers' best song, and yet it's my favorite song by that group, and that dichotomy makes perfect sense to music lovers and makes everyone else wonder why they aren't off reading Gawker instead of this.
There's a point at which one must completely surrender to songs, and I surrendered almost whole-heartedly to "Read My Mind" and "Phantom Limb" within thirty seconds of each first listen. There wasn't much of a choice, and fighting it would have be fool-hearty and perhaps even offensive. They are both songs that make me literally glad to be alive to hear them, in that they make me feel luckily to be in a time and place in which i can hear these songs.
These songs don't make a life, but they make life a lot better.
Posted by Ryan McGee at February 19, 2008 08:28 PM
Comments
It definitely has a catchy melody. It reminds of late 80s alt-rock. Something in between Squeeze, XTC, and Morrisey.
I like the Killers but have only really listened to their 1st album. I'll have to check out the song you mentioned.
The alt-rock station around here, THE BUZZ, really only plays the big hits and classic alternative. It doesn't play the indie/college rock that I prefer at times. ETHEL on XM plays that stuff, but unfortunately I don't have it anymore.
Posted by: Shaggysteve at February 19, 2008 09:29 PM
I recently signed up with Last FM (LastFM.com, take a gander), and so have been visiting old song friends and making new ones.
I love that Killers' song, and I think I've pinpointed why...it's the lines, "I don't shine if you don't shine" and the image of sitting in the driveway with "magic soakin' my spine." I will listen to that over and over and over.
Posted by: Tink at February 20, 2008 04:05 PM