UnquietDreams
Magna Cum Louder
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2023
- Posts
- 27,726
Day 21: A song from the 90s
It seems like I start a lot of these with "this band should have been more popular." And here is another one. The Judybats (or just Judybats. Or The Judy Bats. Or The JudyBats. The band itself was never consistent) had a couple of songs make it onto Billboards Modern Rock 100, but they never really got out of the ghetto of College Radio. Which is too bad, because they mixed some great hooky, quirky, pop sensibilities with some deep melancholy and bittersweet songwriting. Upbeat and downbeat. Sweetly wistful and sweetly sardonic, and it really hits a note with me.
This if from their debut album, which I still listen to regularly. It is fast, upbeat, quirky (with the repeated "wooo" yells) and has several fadeout fake outs. It is sweet, but also bitter. The singer has had his heart broken and went to Spain to heal. And I really love this part:
"But all I want to do is
Break away from them
And write you another letter
That I'll never send
I fold them into boats
Set them afloat in the
Neighborhood pool
The children love them till they
Sink and say, 'Hagame uno mas!
Esos son muy cool!'"
I love that image so much -- writing out things you need to say but you are honestly afraid to let the other person see. I've done that here, writing out long PMs to someone, then deleting them instead, folding them into ethereal paper airplanes and casting them out my window since they get mad if I float paper in the swimming pool, and I don't particularly like my neighborhood kids enough to amuse them. But yes, I really connect with that verse, that sentiment, that feeling.
"Convalescing in Spain," The Judybats (1990)
(+1 for Spain, 4 total)
(I can almost forget that forgetting is the hardest part...)
It seems like I start a lot of these with "this band should have been more popular." And here is another one. The Judybats (or just Judybats. Or The Judy Bats. Or The JudyBats. The band itself was never consistent) had a couple of songs make it onto Billboards Modern Rock 100, but they never really got out of the ghetto of College Radio. Which is too bad, because they mixed some great hooky, quirky, pop sensibilities with some deep melancholy and bittersweet songwriting. Upbeat and downbeat. Sweetly wistful and sweetly sardonic, and it really hits a note with me.
This if from their debut album, which I still listen to regularly. It is fast, upbeat, quirky (with the repeated "wooo" yells) and has several fadeout fake outs. It is sweet, but also bitter. The singer has had his heart broken and went to Spain to heal. And I really love this part:
"But all I want to do is
Break away from them
And write you another letter
That I'll never send
I fold them into boats
Set them afloat in the
Neighborhood pool
The children love them till they
Sink and say, 'Hagame uno mas!
Esos son muy cool!'"
I love that image so much -- writing out things you need to say but you are honestly afraid to let the other person see. I've done that here, writing out long PMs to someone, then deleting them instead, folding them into ethereal paper airplanes and casting them out my window since they get mad if I float paper in the swimming pool, and I don't particularly like my neighborhood kids enough to amuse them. But yes, I really connect with that verse, that sentiment, that feeling.
"Convalescing in Spain," The Judybats (1990)
(+1 for Spain, 4 total)
(I can almost forget that forgetting is the hardest part...)
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(and also Bolivia for some reason)
