The Needle & The Groove

I’ve written before about These United States. To this day, they still have one of the greatest lines I have ever heard in a song:

And though it’s so hard to detail, it’s quite simple to sum it:
I went to bed brass, and I woke up a trumpet.
(“Old John Chapman Takes a Good Long Walk”)

And while some bands seem to fade over time, These United States somehow get better with absolutely everything that they release. That’s why I was so excited when I saw this, the video for the song “Everything Touches Everything,” the title track from their newly released album:

These United States – “Everything Touches Everything”

Now I have to say that I was a little freaked out by the whole walking, talking (or, well, singing), dancing scarecrow, but throw in a couple of crows as backup singers and some children of the corn band members and you can’t help but fall in love with this video. Despite the catastrophic end of the video, despite the destruction and chaos, I still can’t help but feel happy when I watch the video…and the song leaves me the same way:

If there is love when the dust comes to rest, we’re going out there.
We’re going out with our hearts on our chests.

And this is always the effect that These United States has on me. They always leave me somehow feeling better, more optimistic, more content.

These United States – “I’m Gonna Assemble A City”

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Jesse Elliot’s raspy, rough around the edges voice, the toe-tapping rhythms, and the southern-twanged rock would be enough to make Everything Touches Everything a fantastic album, but it is Elliot’s lyrics that send the album over the top. And while few lyrics will ever top the idea of going to bed brass and waking up a trumpet, Elliot’s words still send my mind reeling and always leave me eager for the next album:

How do you think this night is gonna conclude?
If you got the inclination, I got the dancing shoes.
If you brought the red paint, bulls-eye the black sky blue.
How do you think this night is gonna conclude?

Where do you think this revolution’s gonna go?
Stagehands pulling curtains for the big show.
O, delivery, to know what they must know.
Where do you think this revolution’s gonna go?

These United States – “Night & The Revolution”

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Posted by the Needle

These United States – “Old John Chapman Takes a Good Long Walk”

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I was only recently exposed to These United States.  I listen to a lot of music, and almost without fail, I am drawn to a band first by their sound, then by their lyrics, but These United States are definitely one of the exceptions.  Jesse Elliott’s lyrics immediately caught my attention and sent my mind reeling.  This song alone left me confused, euphoric, found, and enlightened in only a few short minutes.  Having marveled at Dylan’s claim that “the sun is not yellow, it’s chicken,” I was blown away by Elliott’s retort that the “sun is not yellow, it’s indifferent.”  And while I have never so much as gone to bed plastic and woken up a kazoo, this song leaves me with the inescapable confidence that someday I may even go to bed a trumpet and wake up a jazz band.

I leave you then with one final thought, “only memory knows what memory erases, and there ain’t no truth can sleuth you where the trace is” (“Kings and Aces”).  Nice.

Posted by The Needle