Co-Song of the Week 5/13/05

Austin's favorite utensil.

Weezer - "Tired of Sex"
Spoon - "Sister Jack"

I've never had a Co-Song of the Week before, but these two songs battled for my brain over the past seven days, so I figured, why not. It's my damn blog, I can do whatever the heck I like (except post MP3's I suppose).

I got tickets for Weezer a few weeks ago, and I've been playing their albums like mad in the Ipod for the past two weeks in anticipation of last night's show. During that same time I've also been thinking that now as I approach middle age, it's probably time to stop catching up on all the nookie I felt like I missed out on in my 20s. So when Weezer played "Tired of Sex" to open their show Thursday night, I yelled every word for what it was worth. (And I'm sure I scared my concert pal Moria--as well as many other kids much younger than me--standing near the sound board with my yelling and pogoing.) I could go on and on about Pinkerton's impact on me and the many messed up young adults who worship the album, but plenty of other folks have already done. I will say that its crazy, mixed up, self-loathing lyrics resonated with a self-loathing unconfident 26 year-old, and they still do to a much more confident, yet still incredibly self-loathing 35 year-old:

"I'm beat, beet red
ashamed of what I said
(What I said)

I'm sorry,
here I go
I know I'm a sinner
but I can't say no
(Say no)

Thursday night I'm makin' Denise
Friday night I'm makin' Sharise
Saturday night I'm making Louise
Oh, why can't I be making love come true?"

(Sigh.)

The lyrics in "Sister Jack" don't grab me like "Tired of Sex" (Heck, I don't even understand most of them.) But the oft-kilter rhthym hooked me the first time I heard it on the public radio show The World Cafe 2 weeks ago. That one spin convinced me I needed to get Spoon's new album, Gimmie Fiction, as soon as it came out on the 10th. I was pleasantly surprised to find an MP3 of the song the next day, and quickly got it onto the Ipod and listen to it almost everyday.

Somehow this week almost became "Sister Jack" overkill. I heard it Monday morning on on WFUV, and I was singing the song all day. Then I was invited to a listening party that night at a bar in the East Village, Hi-Fi, where I heard it the track two more times. The next day I bought Gimmie Fiction and was surprised to find there was a bonus disc with a demo verson of "Sister Jack." Later on Tuesday I went to one of my favorite MP3 blogs, Sixeyes, and they had posted yet another demo version of it. Wednesday night I heard it yet again on the World Cafe. So with all those signs, I had no choice but to also make it Song of the Week. I just hope these two tracks can co-exist peacefully on the same page.