Wednesday, April 27, 2011

30 Songs, 30 Days(2009 Edition), Day Twenty One: String Bean Jean by Belle and Sebastian

Now honestly...does this sound like 'Sad Bastard Music'? Get a load of that crunchy surf-guitar riff that gets changed into something wondrous when the synth slides into the background with its very eighties blips...

A song about summer and how the drudgery of the workaday world can be redeemed by a few drinks with the right girl (a girl he calls 'String Bean' because the label on her jeans says 'seven to eight years old'....a label that makes the POV singer remark 'that's pretty small'), this is yet another argument for Belle and Sebastain having, you know, a variety of feelings and not just the slow, maudlin melancholy most people dismiss them as.

I sometimes wonder how a band gets a rep like that, especially when it can be potentially deadly--after all, look at the case of Texan band Deep Blue Something, who had a hit with the college-y 'Breakfast at Tiffany's.' That song's rather....fawning, obsessive nature branded them as something of a joke, which was a surprise given that it's unlike any of the other songs on the band's album. Granted, Belle and Sebastian have maintained a rather healthy fanbase, some partially because they had the 'sad bastard' brand put on them, but there are other bands with less on the ball who have died due to pigeonholing.

Sorry about that. I promise I won't ramble as much tomorrow.

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