The wind blew me back, Via Chicago...

Happy Wednesday, friends. Only one more day of work before the three day weekend. That little place I work is starting to get the best of me, so it couldn't come at a better time. I can't wait to hop the train to Chicago with Dan, Jill & Christie. I don't think I've ever ridden on a train, before. I love trains. It's no accident that Dan used to live right on the train tracks that goes past Holland, through Michigan City & on to Chicago. I think I have a picture of those tracks somewhere. We used to walk along the tracks from Dan's to JW's. Everybody loves a train, as the song goes.

Jeff Tweedy is cementing his place as one of the great songwriters of the last twenty years, perhaps the best since, well the best in a long time. He pushes the envelope of what a song can do. He likes to straddle beautiful little melodies with ambient noise that can often lead to incredible tension. I'm not a fan of these type of comparisons for musicians but it's a bit like Woody Guthrie meets the Velvet Underground.

Nowhere is this more evident then in my favorite Wilco song, Via Chicago.

I dreamed about killing you again last night
And it felt alright to me
Dying on the banks of Embarcadero skies
I sat and watched you bleed
Buried you alive in a fireworks display
Raining down on me
Your cold, hot blood ran away from me
To the sea

I painted my name on the back of a leaf
And I watched it float away
The hope I had in a notebook full of white, dry pages
Was all I tried to save
But the wind blew me back via Chicago
In the middle of the night
And all without fight
At the crush of veils and starlight

I know I'll make it back
One of these days and turn on your TV
To watch a man with a face like mine
Being chased down a busy street
When he gets caught, I wont get up
And I wont go to sleep
I'm coming home, I'm coming home
Via Chicago

Where the cups are cracked and hooked
Above the sink
They make me think
Crumbling ladder tears don't fall
They shine down your shoulders
And crawling is screw faster lash
I blow it with kisses
I rest my head on a pillowy star
And a cracked door moon
That says I havent gone too far

I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Via Chicago

Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Via Chicago

I'm coming home
I'm coming home



The end of the last verse is like the heavens opening wide, all of the ambient noise is gone, the melody is loud & clear & the sum parts of all the negative images contained in the song finally come through & produce some beauty. What a perfect little song, it's an example of all of the pain & beauty a song can display & that doesn't have to be either one or the other. I sure hope they play it on Friday.

I just looked on their website & it's not only the opening show of the five night stand in their hometown of Chicago, it's also the opening show of the tour. That can always make for a more exciting show as the band is usually quite excited to be playing before an audience again. I can't wait.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Via Chicago-Wilco, Summerteeth

Train of Love-Johnny Cash

Tom Sawyer's Later Years-Kevin Davis, The Great Plains

Sons & Daughters-the Decemberists, the Crane Wife

I Don't Need You (to set me free)-Grinderman

Happy Wednesday, friends...

andrew