Song of the Week: Cold Beer and Remote Control

[GrrrlRomeo]

This week's song is "Cold Beer and Remote Control"

Discuss it, rate how you like it on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. If you tabbed the song you can also post it in this thread if you like.

*For these threads please keep the topic related to the song.

Lyrics from lifeblood.net (http://lifeblood.net/songs/athruz/coldbeerandremotecontrol.html)

all of my days have been misspent
stuffing out the sofa and the antenna's bent
inside my heart's bustin' out at the seams
i work for the impossible american dream

i got a job at the grocery store
a few bucks an hour and not much more
the world comes in just to take things away
they eat it all up and then they sleep into day

i try not to care i would lose my mind
running 'round the same thing time after time
only two things bound to soothe my soul
cold beer and remote control

now once upon a time i was nobody's fool
(once upon a fool)
two jobs and showing up for school
i guess it comes apart so little by little
you don't know your there till your stuck in the middle
i try not to care i would lose my mind
running 'round the same thing time after time
and only two things bound to soothe my soul
cold beer and remote control

sit down
(sit down sit down)
the room is dark
(the room is dark)
the blurry graffiti on the benches
across at the public park
the plastic's black and buttoned
(the plastic's black)
the haze is blue
(the haze is blue)
and all i want is nothing to do

'cause it's a long walk to the bus stop
it's a long wait for the turning clock
it's a two-tired car sitting up on the blocks
and things i put aside like that pile of rocks

i try not to care i would lose my mind
running 'round the same thing time after time
and only two things bound to soothe my soul
cold beer and remote control

yes i try not to care i would lose my mind
(all of my days have been misspent)
running round the same thing time after time
(stuffing out the sofa and the antennas bent)
and only two things bound to soothe my soul
(inside my hearts busting out at the seams)
cold beer and remote control
(i work for the impossible american dream)
yeah

cold beer and remote control
(i said i guess it comes apart so little by little yeah)
yeah
beer and remote control
(i said i guess it comes apart so little by little yeah)
yeah

words and music by emily saliers

[QHShowoman]

This is one of my favorite IG songs ever. I gave it a 5!

[meggy]

I love this song. It got me through the most miserable time in my life. I bought the album right after work on the day it came out. I listened to the song as I rode the bus home, and it was like "Holy shit. This is my life right now".

Worked two miserable jobs in retail, hated where I lived, had no car - so I had to walk two miles back and forth to the bus stop, friends from college were scattered all over the country. Was broke as all hell. Major family problems going on, lost the place I was living in to a fire, lost my dog in that fire. Life pretty much sucked.

[paulie]

Good song--a bit different in guitar sound then Em's usual, inventive lyrics as always.....(though usually I think Em writes the most awesome bridges in her songs, the one in this song is not quite as strong in my mind)....I like to hear it live......I do always get it in my head whenever I take the bus I must say....

[ec3970]

This is a good em song, not a great one - 4 stars

She had better songs on that CD. What strikes me about it is that it's straight forward and not suffocated in metaphors like her last stuff.


my opinion:
Amy's writing is aways good, but em's writing is either brillant or dreadful. For me she makes or breaks the CD. On CONS her writing was great, she just misplaced her acoustic and the production got a little too commercial and slick. I prefer the clunkiness of SotS.

[golden]

I gave it a 5. My most favorite Emily song ever.

G.

[greenpeace]

ec, i agree completely!

(although, i dont think cons is too slick...)

[Toots2]

Love it!

[GrrrlRomeo]

CONS has a lot of layering, but it is definately not slick IMO. To me slick, over-produced or glossy sound comes from computer processing and compressing the audio. With CONS not only can you hear all the string noises, but also some mic bleed. Okay, I admit I listen to my music way too loud and I should be deaf by now. But I like those sounds...it gives me a sense of space. IG should self-produce more often.

I'll probably end up rating everything off of CONS a 5. LOL I like the lyrics of this song a lot because of the imagery...I guess because I'm familiar with them. LOL I think it captures the state of a lot of people in working middle-class...people who are just stuck because their jobs burn them out physically and emotionally and they make just enough to get by.

For me, great lyrics have to accomplish two things. They have to have meaning and they have to sound good... you know, phonetically...because there is music in the way words sound. A lot of writers are good at doing one or the other. Emily has a knack for doing both. Sometimes she doesn't quite get it, but Cold Beer is definately one where she does.

Besides that, its a great tune and I love it when Emily plays electric. In this song I like the way the electric and acoustic guitars blend, so it's not 100% electric. The acoustic takes the front seat during the verses and then the electric comes out in front during the chorus. It's the best of both worlds and it makes the song really dynamic.

On my list of qualities that make a great song, this one pretty much hits every one.

[greenpeace]

it's probably tacky to keep a-mening but i agree with you too grrlromeo. i think in a lot of ways CONS is IG's most creative and interesting album and i often wonder why they don't self-produce more. i don't find it too slick and poppy and think instead it's nuanced. a lot of its best tracks are ones that could be considered 'alt-country' like gone again, ozilline, and andy and i think they should move in that direction more with their own material and production..what do y'all think?