When A Song Knocks You Out So You Play It On A Loop

Friday is fun because it's about music. And there's always a playlist...

Every now and then a song hits me so hard that I can’t stop listening to it. I’ll play it several times in a row. And not just when I first hear it, but almost every time. I can count on my hands the number of times this has happened in my life, maybe just on the one hand.

The example I always give is Carnival by Natalie Merchant.

That song absolutely kills me. I have felt the same way about it since I first heard it.

Everything about the song is perfect. The guitar line that weaves through it, Merchant’s voice, the tone and feel and timbre of the lyric, and the recording, and its production. It is a perfectly built song. And if I had to pick one aspect in particular that is crucial to the recorded version and its impact then I’m going to say the conga part. The percussion that sits in and around the drum-groove is the special sauce of the song. Musically at least.

Last Friday I was walking through town listening to Carnival on a loop. I must have played it five times in a row, and when I made it home, I kept playing it. Another three or four times before I decided to move on to anything else.

I should, at this point, say that I love the album Carnival comes from. I love pretty much everything Natalie Merchant has recorded, and the band she was in before going solo. In fact, it was probably listening to 10,000 Maniacs that really sold me on Merchant.

Natalie Merchant has songs that just stop you in your tracks. Another is Giving Up Everything.

My god. That song. That song!

But this is not about Natalie Merchant, it’s not about Carnival, and it’s not about Giving Up Everything.

It was going to be.

After playing Carnival on a loop last week I thought it would make a good subject for a Friday newsletter. But then, the very next day, I found a new song to play on a loop.

Robert Forster, who you might be aware of from his time as one of the singers and songwriters in Australian group, The Go-Betweens has just released his new solo album. He’s been on a roll of late, with four great records in a row. These arriving in the wake of the band’s other singer/songwriter (Grant McLennan) dying; putting the Go-Betweens definitively on the shelf. His solo career divided into two halves, the band reforming for a time right in the middle…

Forster’s latest album, The Candle And The Flame, is very good. It’s so good, that I wrote a review of it. Something I almost never do these days. But it pulled me out of the funk of feeling like no one needs or cares about record reviews anymore.

And within the album, there is one song in particular that really sells it.

Tender Years is everything you want in a Robert Forster song. Great lyrics, tender, as its title tells us, catchy, as is his way, and something that simultaneously feels effortless and so meticulously crafted.

The Candle and The Flame has only been out a week. I climbed right into last weekend, but in particular I played Tender Years over and over. And I still do. Every time I listen to the album I play that song several times, then I go back to that song when I finish the album.

It is so perfect in its way.

No one else could make a song like that. It is what Robert Forster has always been doing. But it carries with it such a promise. One of the very best love songs I reckon. And I’m a sucker for wonderful balladry.

Forster’s song is about his wife and partner of some 30+ years. It features the whole family playing on is. And the video I shared above I’ve only just seen for the first time in writing this. I hadn’t thought to look for it all week. I’ve just been living with the audio recording. Marvelling after each and every listen. Finding a new pocket within it, a new line, or moment within a line. And then that guitar solo always arrives as if it might be carrying an Australian flag over its shoulder and a nice cold beer under the other arm, mate.

So, sure, I thoroughly recommend the album.

Absolutely.

But what really sold me the album is that song in particular.

So definitely give the song a listen.

Now, I must also share that Forster has also written two great books. Maybe there’ll be a third? And I want to tell you that I met Robert Forster a few years ago when he was last in Wellington. And I recorded this conversation – which is interrupted a bit by Wellington’s windy weather. I sure hope he comes back to play the songs from his latest. I’d buy him another sugar-free slice. No question!

I’d love to know what you think of the Forster song.

And are there any songs you have to play on a loop? Or any songs that just knocked you out when you very first heard them?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, thanks for reading. And of course, here’s Vol. 103 of the A Little Something For The Weekend…Sounds Good! playlist series.