git ssb

title: "“Pour Salt into that Wound of Yours” (the 2007-08-31 Friday Fetch-it)" date: 2007-08-31 17:53 series: the Friday Fetch-it

tags: 8 Hours of Little D, Broken Social Scene, CC and the Spades, eashfa, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Swimmers

<p>I don't really know <em>how</em> to go about recommending Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by CC & the Spades (which partially explains the large gap since the last entry <em>and</em> why the following isn't <span title="Don't laugh.">my usual neatly-structured, eloquent prose</span>)—I don't know <em>why</em> I like the song so much. I know that I <em>do</em> like it. And I <em>think</em> that's because it's <em>damn good</em>, but I can't be sure.</p>

<p>Incidentally, I don't usually recommend songs that I discovered on another music blog, my logic being that if <em>I</em> found it, <em>you</em> could too. But <a href="http://eashfa.wordpress.com/2006/07/02/things-that-go-bang-in-the-middle-of-the-night/">this <em>was</em> a full year ago</a>, and the band still have <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/CC+%2526+The+Spades" title="CC “&” the Spades">well under five hundred</a> <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/CC+and+The+Spades" title="CC “and” the Spades">listens on Last.fm</a>. (They've now accrued <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?&q=%22CC%20%26%20the%20Spades%22%7C%22CC%20and%20the%20Spades%22">59 hits on Google</a>, but <span title="—!?—">17 of them are me</span>).</p>

<p>There are two versions (that I'm aware of): the original, rough demo version—which is what I'm mainly writing about—and a vastly tidied-up version, which uses a slightly different lyric and adds some extra guitar bits. (<em>That</em> one's presently on <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ccmusicuk">CC & the Spades' MySpace page</a>.)</p>

<p>The song basically comprises vocals, guitar, bass and drums. It's fairly straightforward by my standards—there are no weird time signatures and no clever rhythms; it doesn't suddenly shift sideways; it's not less than a minute long and it's not <em>seventeen</em> minutes long; there are no wacky instruments and no macho guitar acrobatics. (I wouldn't recommend bringing it home to meet your grandma, though—<i>it uses the “fuck” word.</i>)</p>

<p>Where the tidier version finishes with a long-held strum, the demo version stops on a drumbeat, as abruptly as it started—its departure smacks you in the face as much as its arrival did. There's no particular melody or even <em>rhythm</em> to the vocals in the chorus—it's almost as if CC's <em>improvising</em> the vocals here.</p>

<p>In fact the whole <em>song</em> is very rough, unpolished and raw: a lot of the time the microphone can't quite contain CC's voice; the bass guitar (which plays up in almost the same register as the lead) is noticeably off-rhythm during the choruses and I think it hits the wrong note at the start of the instrumental towards the end.</p>

<p>It's this sort of coarse sincerity that defined punk. <strong>If you download one song this week, make it <a href="/thefridayfetchit/20070831.mp3">Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</a>.</strong></p>

<hr>

<p>(That link is to the rough, demo version as an MP3; it was on their MySpace profile for a while, but the tidier version replaced it.)</p>

<p>(How do you follow <em>that</em>? Usually with the same song again... or 8 Hours (also by CC & the Spades; see <a href="http://eashfa.wordpress.com/2006/07/02/things-that-go-bang-in-the-middle-of-the-night/">eashfa</a> to download that too). More usefully, perhaps: Swimmers by Broken Social Scene follows the demo version particularly nicely.)