Death Becomes Him
Over the past few days I've been listening to the new Paul Westerberg release "Come Feel Me Tremble" and like a lot of his solo work, it's going to take a while to grow on me. But this time I'm going to patiently wait for it to happen, instead of prematurely dismissing it as a collection of not ready for retail unlistenable garage demos. That was my reaction to his previous effort, Stereo/Mono. But over the past year a good half dozen tracks from that album have proven themselves to be great, meaningful songs. Yes, there's still a lot of crap on there too, but six songs is good enough to justify my cash outlay.
The new CD has two songs that are great and immediately accessible: 'What a Day for a Night' and 'Crackle and Drag.' I'm not even sure what the first one is about and can't remember any lyrics except the chorus. But it has a hooky melody, clean instrumentation, and the patented Westerberg delivery of sounding exhausted and wryly self amused. For whatever reason, it makes you want to be in on the joke, and a more determined study of the lyrics usually pays off and makes you glad you put in the effort.
The second song is about the suicide of Sylvia Plath. As I've written before, that topic doesn't strike me as the kind of material great rock-pop songs are written about, at least not accessible ones. Although it does sound like a band that might be playing the Entry this weekend: (The Suicide of Sylvia Plath, followed by The Vomit of Keith Moon and the Momma Cass Ham Sandwich Experience.).
But 'Crackle and Drag' is beautifully done and even for somebody who knows nothing of Sylvia Plath, it eloquently articulates the tragedy of her death and the enormity of pain/madness/loss involved when someone is driven to take their own life. But this is Westerberg, so it's not pedantic, or melodramatic. His words are simple, his point of view clear, yet there's a world of subtle inference for the listener to take as far as they wish.
It has to be one of the five best suicide/early death songs in Westerberg's catalog. I'd put it right up there with 'Lush and Green, ' 'Good Day,' and 'Can't Hardly Wait.' What's great about Westerberg's collection of these types of songs is that it's ever growing. Not just with new songs he writes, but with old songs you thought were about relationships or some other BS, but turns out they're really about suicide. I had that experience watching the "Come Feel Me Tremble" movie and the song 'No Place for You' which, to my surprise, is about a friend of his who killed herself. (BTW - 'No Place for You' is one of those great songs from Stereo/Mono I previously referred to.)
Westerberg seems well aware of his habit of writing about this material. The 'Tremble' movie contained a clip of him playing an in-store gig. It was between songs and he was standing there beneath the garish lighting and amid the rock posters and CD racks and he asked the crowd, "So, are you guys tired of hearing songs about death yet?"
There's a lyric from 'Crackle and Drag' that says "she was cursed with insight." The last few days when I pass the Pioneer Press paper box by my house I'm forced to laugh, since it has a promotion for columnist Laura Billings on it that says "Laura Billings - 20/20 Insight."
