The Fall – Bill Is Dead (1990)

Last week after “Dynasty”
I had crows feet under my eyes
Paid two days for getting high

Freezing
Wheezing
Got pasted in a bar
I hope I’ve got the number

These are finest times of my life
This is the greatest time of my life
This is the greatest time of my life
These are the biggest times of my life

But just lately seeing you
I rise a.m. off pink sheets
I am renewed
I am aglow
Red brick and green is the streets
You dressed today as if for riding school
Your legs are so cool
Came twice
You thrice

These are the greatest times of my life

Mark is Dead.

Retired hurt, never dismissed.

 

 

Father John Misty – So I’m Growing Old On Magic Mountain (2017)

My song of the year and one of the best things I’ve heard in ages.

Ex Fleet Foxes, Josh Tillman (aka Father John Misty) in cahoots with Gavin Bryars among others.

Monumentally beautiful. An ode to mortality.

That was the last New Year I’ll ever see ….

The wine has all been emptied

The smoke has cleared

As people file back to the valley

On the last night of life’s party

These days the years thin ’til I can’t remember

Just what it feels like to be young forever

 

The LP version and then a simply wonderful live studio version from Austin City Limits.

 

The Zombies – Care of Cell 44 (1967)

One of Rod Argent’s finest hours 4 minutes; managing to “out Beach Boy”, Brian Wilson!

Taken from The Zombies masterpiece Odyssey and Oracle, ‘”Care of Cell 44″ tells the story of a person writing to their partner in prison and has been described as “the sunniest song ever written about the impending release of a prison inmate” – I haven’t heard the other contenders so am not qualified to support and deny this judgement …,

For reasons that aren’t completely clear, the 4 minute single was not a commercial success back in 1967 but, fortunately, Pitchfork have put things straight by including it in their “200 Greatest Songs of the 60’s”

Pop perfection!