What's the best song on Sky Blue Sky

[GasCabbie]

If that's what your ears are telling you, sounds like it's time to find some new ears.

 

Your ears are, I presume, of acceptable quality for Wild Frank to have?

 

Something to aspire to, I suppose.

[augurus]

I find this post a little strange. First of all, CVS? If your CVS is playing IG, it's the coolest CVS I've heard of.

 

Second, cringe? Really? Is it the impossibly great guitar work? The lyrics? ??????

Nice guitar work, yes. Lyrics are okay, but it doesn't paint a picture in any resounding manner. I wouldn't cringe, but I'm not a fan.

[tinnitus photography]

the 'you're not listening' part of the IG lyrics are really direct, and meaningful. at least to me.

[MCHowdy]

the 'you're not listening' part of the IG lyrics are really direct, and meaningful. at least to me.

 

Agreed and agreed.

[MCHowdy]

Nice guitar work, yes. Lyrics are okay, but it doesn't paint a picture in any resounding manner. I wouldn't cringe, but I'm not a fan.

 

I like the lyric. Very little waste, paints a nice picture to me, but we can agree to disagree. My main point is that hearing it in a CVS (or any store for that matter) should have no bearing on the song's real impact.

 

And I'd argue that the guitar work is more than nice. The build up from the sparseness at the beginning of Nels' solo, to the three-part interplay near the end is gorgeous and tense, and the release of the tension with the power chord that ends the solo is great on the album, and even better live. Listen to the Boston recording from the Evening With shows and you can hear the crowd tension release, too. Love it.

[The High Heat]

the 'you're not listening' part of the IG lyrics are really direct, and meaningful. at least to me.

If it wasn't for this, the lyrics would be useless to me.

[mountain bed]

If that's what your ears are telling you, sounds like it's time to find some new ears.

Oh, you.

 

This is an odd album for me, in that when you see the songs performed live they usually SMOKE, but on record they sound kinda tame. I voted for "What Light" just because it always sounds to me like a song Woody would have loved. Simple and direct.

[kidsmoke]

I can't believe I'm the only one with a "Sky Blue Sky" vote. Oh, I see LouieB is just a "write in" and didn't vote in the poll.

 

 

Oh, and for me it was a toss-up between "Sky Blue Sky" and "Side With The Seeds," but the former won out just by a inch.

 

This song has always just slayed me. Sky Blue Sky, I mean.

[augurus]

I like the lyric. Very little waste, paints a nice picture to me, but we can agree to disagree. My main point is that hearing it in a CVS (or any store for that matter) should have no bearing on the song's real impact.

 

And I'd argue that the guitar work is more than nice. The build up from the sparseness at the beginning of Nels' solo, to the three-part interplay near the end is gorgeous and tense, and the release of the tension with the power chord that ends the solo is great on the album, and even better live. Listen to the Boston recording from the Evening With shows and you can hear the crowd tension release, too. Love it.

No, I really think the lyrics are just drab. They're not awful like The Late Greats, but it's not like "Cigarettes taste so good", "I dreamt of killing you again last night", nor "someone ties a bow in my backyard to show me love". It lacks sharpness: it's conversational.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

The blue eyed soul stylings of Side with Seeds are exactly what I was hoping for when the first rumblings about Wilco recording a 'soul' album. This would have been a great song to present for Solomon Burke's solo record along with Is that the Thanks I Get.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Everyone always throws out "direct" as an adjective when describing the lyrics on this record. What do you mean by that? How are other Wilco albums' lyrics indirect?

[choo-choo-charlie]

The blue eyed soul stylings of Side with Seeds are exactly what I was hoping for when the first rumblings about Wilco recording a 'soul' album. This would have been a great song to present for Solomon Burke's solo record along with Is that the Thanks I Get.

 

Yes yes yes. I love SBS, despite its flaws. And I also think it would have been enhanced by "The Thanks I Get" as well as "Glad It's Over," "One True Vine" and "Let's Not Get Carried Away." An "expanded" approach a la Being There...

[Atticus]

Everyone always throws out "direct" as an adjective when describing the lyrics on this record. What do you mean by that? How are other Wilco albums' lyrics indirect?

 

I assume people are referring to the fact that the lyrics are more narrative, more conversational, grounded in real life every day occurrences and emotions, as opposed to say being an aquarium drinker assassining down the avenue and what not.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I assume people are referring to the fact that the lyrics are more narrative, more conversational, grounded in real life every day occurrences and emotions, as opposed to say being an aquarium drinker assassining down the avenue and what not.

 

But then you have songs like Passenger Side, Box Full of Letters, That's Not the Issue, Reservations, Shot in the Arm, ELT, Say You Miss Me, Misunderstood, Red-Eyed and Blue, Heavy Metal Drummer, Hell is Chrome (pretty direct, if fanciful) - I could go on.

 

And also Side With the Seeds, Shake it Off, Please Be Patient ('I'm this apple, this happening stone' and the part about words and rust and dust), YAMF ("I remember my mother's sister's husband's brother"? how much more indirect can you get?). And if anyone ever said, "Impossible Germany, unlikely Japan: wherever you go, wherever you land" to me, I would not think they were being direct.

 

Jeff described the lyrics as direct in early press about that album, but I just don't think it's unique to this record, and yet I never hear people describe other Wilco songs as 'direct.'

[tongue-tied]

I would have voted for "Leave Me (Like You Found Me)" but was forced to choose "You Are My Face".

[a-me-with-a-you]

I also chose "You Are My Face", it's a pretty clear number 2 for me. Number three would be harder.

 

P.S. Would anyone choose "Walken"? And would it earn them a swift kick in the teeth? lol.

[bleedorange]

I would have voted for "Leave Me (Like You Found Me)" but was forced to choose "You Are My Face".

 

Has someone alerted Sexual Napalm??

[Guest Speed Racer]

AND I like Walken. Sounds like a great Being There Disc 2 cut. LMLYFM sounds like a great Coldplay b-side, or even, like, a Dashboard Confessional acoustic number.

[bleedorange]

AND I like Walken. Sounds like a great Being There Disc 2 cut. LMLYFM sounds like a great Coldplay b-side, or even, like, a Dashboard Confessional acoustic number.

 

I'm right there with you on both songs.

[MCHowdy]

Everyone always throws out "direct" as an adjective when describing the lyrics on this record. What do you mean by that? How are other Wilco albums' lyrics indirect?

 

Well, I threw out something like "direct" in talking about one song. Rather, I said the song had "little waste", but it amounts to the same thing in this case. Never said that other albums don't contain songs with direct lyrics, and I'm not certain anyone else did. And I think the distinction between "direct" and "indirect" is obvious enough that there's hardly much to say other than "direct". It's just that simple.

[Sir Stewart]

If that's what your ears are telling you, sounds like it's time to find some new ears.

 

This coming from the guy who something or other.

[tongue-tied]

LMLYFM is the "Wishful Thinking" of SBS, except there isn't a large and vocal opposition to "Wishful Thinking".

[Guest Jules]

LMLYFM is the "Wishful Thinking" of SBS, except there isn't a large and vocal opposition to "Wishful Thinking".

 

That's because it's good.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I'm with Jules. It took me a long time to warm up to Wishful Thinking, but I love it now. It's bogged down by a terrible chorus and I definitely thought the music dragged, but it grew on me, and now I just love the song.

[Sir Stewart]

You 'love' a song with a 'terrible' chorus?