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Top 20 Jeff Tweedy Songs


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Well, clearly my point was that HMD is the slightest song on YHF, the one least deserving of critical acclaim. But I do admit that when the band plays the song in concert I don't sit down and scowl. I guess I could be a more dedicated hater. Sorry.

What Stewart said.

 

HMD is not exactly a hardcore fan favorite.

 

I don't mind it at all, but there are a lot of Wilco fans who strongly oppose it's existence.

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I've always liked Hummingbird, but I wouldn't put it that high on a list like this.

 

I think it's been mentioned before, but this is a really disappointing list from an analytical perspective. If you're going to do one song a day, I would expect a lengthy write-up for each song with intriguing analysis that either dissects the lyrics or examines the melody or both. This guy is a joke and nothing he has written apart from his actual list has been remotely interesting.

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Guest Speed Racer

i second that one. this guy is terrible. but i still like looking everyday.

 

Me too, especially at work. Makes me feel a lot better about the product I crank out here. :lol That being said, I really do love the two studio versions of Hummingbird, and the solo acoustic version. The live band performances are too showy for me (more the arrangement than the bitchin' Tweedy Shuffle).

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I haven't visited the list since about #12, but his commentary on Hummingbird is just awful. They "emerged from their cocoon"? And Tweedy "can't keep still when he sings it, often breaking out the dance moves, like a hummingbird himself"? I think those could more aptly be described as his I'm-a-guitar-player-without-my-guitar-what-do-I-do? moves. Either way, his write-ups each day say almost nothing about the songs.

 

I do like Hummingbird a lot, though. The lyrics, rhythm, arrangement, and especially the en masse singalongs at live shows. That's one of my favorite tracks to listen to from the Residency: the entire crowd belting it out.

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good call with ashes. i forgot about that. i still think it's going to be iattbyh. the sam jones documentary probably boosted its popularity.

 

"i am an american aquarium drinking" better be the quote.

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Guest Speed Racer

I wouldn't be surprised if this douchebag's number one is some stupid shit like Hate It Here. His key lyric being: "I try to keep the house nice and neat, I make my bed I change the sheets, I even learned how to use the washing machine, But keeping things clean doesn’t change anything"

 

Nah, it'll probably be more like this:

#1: "Hate it Here"

Key lyric: I should take care

 

Jeff Tweedy's #1 song, "Hate it Here," celebrates a trip come full circle. Having risen from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo only to discover a troubled lover's cigarette ashes after a night-long fight, he found himself in late-2001 saluting yet more ashes - this time of a patriotic, grim nature. Fast forward six years and Jeff once more has risen from the ashes of anxiety, addiction and migraines. On "Hate it Here," a fan favorite about a lonely, confused lover managing a break-up, Jeff celebrates a return to health and responsbility.

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Guest Runaway Jim

i've always thought this is tops, in terms of IATTBYH lyrics:

 

I always thought that if I held you tightly

You'd always love me like you did back then

Then I fell asleep in the city kept blinking

What was I thinking when I let you back in

 

I am trying to break your heart.

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Here's the rundown from #4 today.

 

#4 - A Shot in the Arm

 

Key Lyric: "The ashtray says you were up all night/ when you went to bed, with you’re darkest mind/You’ve changed.”

 

“A Shot in the Arm” is quintessential Wilco. A fervent rocker that builds to a cathartic climax, it comes stocked with a cool guitar analogy, (”we fell in love in the key of C,”), and the reoccurring accusation that “you’ve changed.” Tweedy pours all of his late-90s angst and worry into this one, crying out for “something in my veins, bloodier than blood.” It all comes to a head with the powerful, malleable mantra, “what you once were isn’t what you want to be anymore.”

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Not a big surprise, after seeing HMD and Hummingbird so near the top. I've got no complaints with this one. Great accessible song.

 

Good calls with the YHF choices for #1. Among others that I would have thought were favorites -- at least before we saw the rest of his choices -- aren't Misunderstood and Via Chicago still on the board?

 

Of course after seeing his last few choices, Outasite Outamind could be #1.

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Nah, it'll probably be more like this:

#1: "Hate it Here"

Key lyric: I should take care

 

Jeff Tweedy's #1 song, "Hate it Here," celebrates a trip come full circle. Having risen from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo only to discover a troubled lover's cigarette ashes after a night-long fight, he found himself in late-2001 saluting yet more ashes - this time of a patriotic, grim nature. Fast forward six years and Jeff once more has risen from the ashes of anxiety, addiction and migraines. On "Hate it Here," a fan favorite about a lonely, confused lover managing a break-up, Jeff celebrates a return to health and responsbility.

:rotfl

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I don't think this list is ranking the songs (meaning each one down the list is better than the previous). I could be wrong. But his choosing of songs seems too erratic for it to be a ranking.

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i really wish i had a magazine at my fingertips. where i could publish my top 20 tweedy songs, 1 at a time.

 

If you just had a tape machine also, you'd have everything.

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