I am probably too late getting to The National, as I would bet they already pick up quite an amount of praise in the right quarters, but given that I don’t really listen to any radio stations or music shows these days, I am often to be found a pleasing couple of months behind the hype machines. When I was a kid it would have filled me with horror not to have an opinion on the latest band on the day of their album release, or at the very least, one day before you had one, but I suppose letting go of all that ‘now, now, now’ crap is one of the true joys of getting older.
This song I first found via an Andrew Weatherall mix which I wrote about a while ago and so is probably unavailable now (or try searching the internet, you may be able to hunt it down). I have not stopped playing it since that day, and this beautiful song is one of the many reasons why it remains so essential, never failing to up my joie de vivre. The next time I fall for someone, I want this to be on the soundtrack. The search for love essentially does boil down to looking for someone to hide behind the sofa with, in winter, having slept in your clothes. Right? What else is there?
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I found that last paragraph strangely moving…
That’s great, James. If you’re feeling moved, my work here is done!
The National are the new best band in America and perhaps one of the best in the world right now, needless to say, being a muso, I don’t really like them.
They make a nice noise though.
Heh, Daniel, that’s usually my attitude to anything everyone else loves.
‘Everything popular is wrong’, as a great man once wrote.
However, I’m not sure I can concur with your choice of soundstrack. For me, it would have to be something more along the lines of this:
But I guess that defeats the object of you posting something on the subject of getting older not keeping up with contemporary music?
…and I also love the Byrds song. There’s another version of it by Dusty Springfield which is spellbinding. I am getting old, aren’t I?!
I’m well out of touch these days – I’m older than you,though, I think – although I like to think I’ve still got it when it comes to music – if I could only be a little more bothered.
Check this out – the track ‘Constellations’ in particular:
http://www.myspace.com/darwindeez