Taken from "Bee Thousand" 1993
"In the summer that you came
there was something eating everyone
And the sunshine fund was low
We couldn't greet you with a simple hello
And the watchers of the flood were busy in their chambers
Making sure there was new blood to sustain their dying veins
But I believed you
No need for further questioning
I'm gonna leave with you
You can teach me all you know
Which way will we go now on our trip to taller windows
I really don't know now
I really don't know
In the winter that you left, there was business as usual
With the same old fears and frustrations
But the word got out, it was really such a pity
But the judges and the saints and the textbook committee
Decided you should be left out - not even mentioned
But I believed you
No need for further questioning
I'm gonna leave with you
You can teach me all you know
Which way will we go now on our trip to taller windows
I really don't know now
I really don't know"
ahhhhh. A GBV classic. A relentless throb of wonderful goodness. Downbeat and sad but uplifting and beautiful all at the same time. Who are the Textbook committee?
Sunday 6 December 2009
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4 comments:
the textbook committee had something to do with when he was still teaching..........you never got back to me about soulseek????
Killer riff (nicely evolved from the demo sketch) drives a quintessential low-fi era GBV tune. Bob's breathless delivery nails it.
Lyrics are brilliant- life (interpersonal relationships) distilled through the HS popularity contest/bureaucracy metaphor.
I endured High School and (stranger still) returned to briefly teach in this setting- these lyrics resonate... a classic
There's not a lot of chords in this song and it employs Bob's oft used bass note dropping a half tone. But the genuis of Bob's songwriting is the capacity to find these incredible melodies that soar into the stratosphere. The verse builds gradually, and then the chorus just takes off so nagically and majestically as he hits those high notes.
One of the best songs ever written. I never skip it. Whatever mood I'm in, whatever I feel like listening to, this song will always make me stop dead in my tracks when it comes on until its over. The genius of it is that there are only three chords and the melody is so amazing that you would think it never repeated the same chord pattern twice! Absolute Perfection.
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