There must be something in the water in Canada. It's the new ENGLAND!
Excuse me. Pardon for the break. I had to get up to close the window. So the See You Next Tuesday living next door doesn't freak out when I turn this up to 11!
This is what we're looking for. Something we hear once that we can't get out of our brains, that we come home to download. Used to be we'd drive right to the record store, but now we go home, like the rest of the Americans, staying away from the movies, the baseball games, the DVD rental shops. All the action is in your house.
"To give you something to go onWhen I go offBack to the middle of nowhere"
This is the key element. Oh, the verse is good, with the beat in some place nobody else puts it. But, when they get to the sing-song chorus, well after the almost infectious pre-chorus, you feel like you're in junior high again, this is the feeling that was SUPPOSED to be in "Rock And Roll High School". But no movie can capture the essence of a great four minute rock song, they're completely different media, it's like comparing sex on screen to DOING IT!
I could sit here passively and tell you how Hot Hot Heat's "Middle Of Nowhere" is imperfect, catalog its faults, castigate it for its lack of innovation, but the pieces together, rudimentary pieces, create a mosaic that you just want to writhe in.
"But maybe I'm a little bit weakI let my frailty take the wheelShe said maybe there's a bit of meWaiting for a bit of you baby"
THIS is the cheeky honesty that broke the Beatles, the universality stated in a personal, honest way.
"But you're waiting at the doorWhere everybody's hanging out just like they hung out beforeYou didn't have to do it but you did it just to sayThat you didn't have to do it but you would anyway"
And what a concept.
We've all been here. As the party's ending. We've spied somebody across the room, maybe even briefly spoken to them, we're worried this is the last time we're ever going to SEE THEM! You can envision a whole life together, holding hands, laughing, and maybe it's NOT going to happen. So, do you stay silent, or send a SIGN??
That's what the girl does here. To the ignorant, out of it boy, not in touch with himself, never mind his feelings. She's standing at the door as the party winds down, giving him a sign, as he goes back to the middle of nowhere.
Or maybe I've got it wrong. Hell, it's early. Sometimes you don't get the meaning of a track until DECADES later.
And I'm not sure it's even ABOUT the lyrics. You can feel, HEAR the meaning in the music. The urgency, the excitement. The DESIRE!
Oh, you know how it is when you realize you're at the advent of a love affair. Suddenly nothing else matters. There's a tight focus. Your heart's palpitating. You've been here before, but it's been so long. There's going to be touching. There's going to be connection. Can you handle it? But you need it.
And that's how it is with music. We NEED IT! The connection, the urgency. We're presented with so much faux work. Whether it be the swagger of the rappers or the inanities of the imitation divas. We believe music is extinct. The simple ditty. That infects you, that changes your life.
I haven't heard something that got me so instantaneously since Alanis Morissette's "Hand In Pocket". And "Middle Of Nowhere" isn't as good. But, our expectations are so low, we've been through such a fallow period. Then again, Hot Hot Heat is a BAND! Alanis works with a bunch of hired players, I've NEVER seen this motley crew nail the groove of the track live. It's a studio concoction. But I have no doubt that Hot Hot Heat could rip the shit out of "Middle Of Nowhere" live. Like a better rehearsed Replacements. It's not about the complexity of the composition, but how you PRESENT IT, how you DELIVER IT! That's what rock bands do. It's different every night, the record is just a document, the track breathes, takes on different forms live, and you like every one of them, because of the energy, the GROOVE!
If you're not shaking your head like a moptop listening to "Middle Of The Nowhere" you're just too inhibited, too out of touch, too ossified, too calcified, you're done. Then again, listen to it enough and you'll come back ALIVE!
Subscribe to Feed
