I have a favorite Wilco song. It's "Forget The Flowers", from the 1996 double disc Being There. The opening lyrics are: "You're trying my patience/Try pink carnations, red roses and yellow daffodils". I won't pass judgment on Jeff Tweedy's poetic prowess, except to say, for some reason, those lyrics (especially the roses and daffodils) run through my head on a regular basis. I suspect my affinity is really rooted in the juicy instrumentation of the song. It opens with an acoustic guitar, followed by what I believe to be Jay Bennett on a slinky lap steel guitar, then bass, drums, and finally Max Johnston on banjo just prior to Tweedy's opening warble. It's enough to make Buck Owens blush.
It also brings back a fond memory. When Bob Dylan played six shows in 1987 with the Grateful Dead as his backing band, I was fortunate to catch the show at The Big A, Anaheim Stadium. I believe the song was "I Want You" or perhaps "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight". What lingers is the image not the audio. I was standing way back from the stage on the field level, so I was watching the big screen. It was a full body shot of Bob, singing his nasal damnedest, and in the back of the shot, head down, his gaze buried in what I presume was a lap steel guitar, was portly Jerry Garcia picking away with a very similar sound as to what Bennett delivers in "Forget The Flowers." It was a sight for the rock ages. That was the same night the helicopter stopped overhead and shined a searchlight on us in the parking lot, but that's another story.
So it must be noted: "Forget The Flowers" is actually a "featured" song of the day, as there was an article 16 incident this morning. The article 16 proviso (FSOTD #16) allows for the picking of a featured song of the day in the case where the true first song of the day was a duplicate from another day. This morning, I woke up once again with Doc & Merle's "Freight Train Boogie" chugging through my mind. As you may recall, it was the original FSOTD (which is actually FSOTD #2).
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Wow an excellent first song of the day and not a Wilco song I recognized at first glance. I will be sure to look it up. Great background info too. These entries are amazing. A genius idea and many thanks Mr. Yabbadoodle.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's great to have at least one fan. Thanks. Ironically, I'm about to make a correction to the post. When first writing the piece, a brief search for the lyrics turned up nothing, so I was forced to rely on my ear. I posted what I heard (and what I had been singing): "You're trying my patience; try incarnations, red roses and yellow daffodils".
ReplyDeleteBut the more I thought about those lines, the less they made sense (I was willing to believe "incarnations" because it seemed so other-worldly). Here's what I now think the line is:
"You're trying my patience, drying carnations, red roses and yellow daffodils." Less heavy, more logical. I'm gonna make the change and then search again. The words are available somewhere. ~ Yab
And these lyrics (easily found) make by far the most sense of all:
ReplyDelete"You're trying my patience/Try pink carnations, red roses and yellow daffodils".
NOW it seems so obvious. ~Yab