Wednesday's Emotional Setup: Cody
So I'm making this CD for James of Scottish bands because he's going to Scotland in the fall and I thought that'd be cool (also, his tastes run to a lot of traditional stuff, but I'd hate for him to go to Glasgow not knowing of its rich indie-rock heritage). I wound up focusing pretty tightly on five bands that I both love and figured I could find songs by that he might like: The Delgados, Idlewild, Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub and Mogwai. All except Idlewild are from Glasgow, something I didn't realise until after making the CD, which is pretty cool.
So for Mogwai, who of course veer from noise to not with some frequency, I was looking for something quieter rather than, say, 'Like Herod'. Which led me, inexorably, to possibly their least beloved album to everyone except for me, Come On Die Young. I'm only going to say a few things about it here, because I feel it's probably due a Classic Album re-evaluation at some point. It's their most wintry and nocturnal album, but it culminates in three nine-minute plus noise epics ('Ex-Cowboy', 'Chocky' and the seminal 'Christmas Steps'). It is, in sections, their most peaceful record, but boasts a title taken (like Young Team's) from gang grafitti seen around Glasgow. The latent violence that lurks there stretches out under the music, only coming to the surface occasionally (and even then, as on 'Kappa', it's often strained and hollow).
It's the Mogwai album I put on most often, more then Young Team or Ten Rapid (which, aside from the unimpeachable 'Helicon 1' and a few others is farly patchy), more than Rock Action or My Father My King (as brilliant as they are), more than the few EPs I have (which deserve more attention), and far more than Happy Songs For Happy People (which is decent but probably transitional, and locks up my computer due to "copy protection").
I wound up including in James' CD 'Kids Will Be Skeletons' from Happy Songs For Happy People, which does have sheer gorgeousness of sound going for it, and the ravishing 'R U Still In 2 It' with Aidan Moffett from Arab Strap off of Young Team (and which I am doing a Seconds article on in mid-May), and 'Cody', from Come On Die Young.
Of course, given the acronym matchup there, I often want to list it as 'C.O.D.Y.', but that's not how it's listed. It's among the most lovely things Mogwai have ever done, it's their first major unassisted vocal piece, and it is the heart around which the rest of the album slowly pulses.
The lyrics are short enough and important enough to post in full:
Of all I knew
I held too few
And would you stop me
If I tried to stop you
Old songs
Stay 'til the end
Sad songs
Remind me of friends
And the way it is
I could leave it all
And I ask myself
would you care at all
When I drive alone at night
I see the streetlights as fairgrounds
And I tried a hundred times
To see the road signs as Day-Glo.
Old songs
Stay 'til the end
Sad songs
Remind me of friends
And the way it is
I could leave it all
And I ask myself
would you care at all
There is something inextricably sad about Stuart Braithwaite's delivery of the central "drive" lines, backed by either himself multi-tracked to infinity or his bandmates. Briathwaite sings in a whispery croon, and that there is no question mark after the line "woudl you care at all" is not accidental; there's no question mark in his delivery, either, especially the second time.
Through all this the softly chiming guitars and almost Low-esque druming is supported by a soft flute, played by a bandmember or possibly producer Dave Fridmann and Richard Formsby's (of the Jazz Butcher) quietly ravishing pedal steel. Despite the pedal steel, it should be said, the song remains resolutely urban, as does the album, in a way few pieces of music outside of Readymade's The Dramatic Balanced By are for me.
When I first bought Come On Die Young (my first Mogwai purchase, incidentially), I found most of it too samey, which is where most people give up, I guess, but 'Cody' was immediately striking. For a while it occupied my ultimate downbeat mixtape, alongside Spiritualized's 'Broken Heart', the Verve's 'History' and the Super Furry Animals' 'Turning Tide', along with others. I burned out on it eventually (as I did with most of those songs), and 'Cody' only made it back into my life recently. I'll be more careful with it now.
And so of course today was a grey, cold, rainy day. Guess what song fit it perfectly?
So for Mogwai, who of course veer from noise to not with some frequency, I was looking for something quieter rather than, say, 'Like Herod'. Which led me, inexorably, to possibly their least beloved album to everyone except for me, Come On Die Young. I'm only going to say a few things about it here, because I feel it's probably due a Classic Album re-evaluation at some point. It's their most wintry and nocturnal album, but it culminates in three nine-minute plus noise epics ('Ex-Cowboy', 'Chocky' and the seminal 'Christmas Steps'). It is, in sections, their most peaceful record, but boasts a title taken (like Young Team's) from gang grafitti seen around Glasgow. The latent violence that lurks there stretches out under the music, only coming to the surface occasionally (and even then, as on 'Kappa', it's often strained and hollow).
It's the Mogwai album I put on most often, more then Young Team or Ten Rapid (which, aside from the unimpeachable 'Helicon 1' and a few others is farly patchy), more than Rock Action or My Father My King (as brilliant as they are), more than the few EPs I have (which deserve more attention), and far more than Happy Songs For Happy People (which is decent but probably transitional, and locks up my computer due to "copy protection").
I wound up including in James' CD 'Kids Will Be Skeletons' from Happy Songs For Happy People, which does have sheer gorgeousness of sound going for it, and the ravishing 'R U Still In 2 It' with Aidan Moffett from Arab Strap off of Young Team (and which I am doing a Seconds article on in mid-May), and 'Cody', from Come On Die Young.
Of course, given the acronym matchup there, I often want to list it as 'C.O.D.Y.', but that's not how it's listed. It's among the most lovely things Mogwai have ever done, it's their first major unassisted vocal piece, and it is the heart around which the rest of the album slowly pulses.
The lyrics are short enough and important enough to post in full:
Of all I knew
I held too few
And would you stop me
If I tried to stop you
Old songs
Stay 'til the end
Sad songs
Remind me of friends
And the way it is
I could leave it all
And I ask myself
would you care at all
When I drive alone at night
I see the streetlights as fairgrounds
And I tried a hundred times
To see the road signs as Day-Glo.
Old songs
Stay 'til the end
Sad songs
Remind me of friends
And the way it is
I could leave it all
And I ask myself
would you care at all
There is something inextricably sad about Stuart Braithwaite's delivery of the central "drive" lines, backed by either himself multi-tracked to infinity or his bandmates. Briathwaite sings in a whispery croon, and that there is no question mark after the line "woudl you care at all" is not accidental; there's no question mark in his delivery, either, especially the second time.
Through all this the softly chiming guitars and almost Low-esque druming is supported by a soft flute, played by a bandmember or possibly producer Dave Fridmann and Richard Formsby's (of the Jazz Butcher) quietly ravishing pedal steel. Despite the pedal steel, it should be said, the song remains resolutely urban, as does the album, in a way few pieces of music outside of Readymade's The Dramatic Balanced By are for me.
When I first bought Come On Die Young (my first Mogwai purchase, incidentially), I found most of it too samey, which is where most people give up, I guess, but 'Cody' was immediately striking. For a while it occupied my ultimate downbeat mixtape, alongside Spiritualized's 'Broken Heart', the Verve's 'History' and the Super Furry Animals' 'Turning Tide', along with others. I burned out on it eventually (as I did with most of those songs), and 'Cody' only made it back into my life recently. I'll be more careful with it now.
And so of course today was a grey, cold, rainy day. Guess what song fit it perfectly?
