Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Top 100 Songs From the 1990s (No. 58)

58. "Your Fucking Sunny Day"
Artist: Lambchop
Year: 1997

I enjoyed the early work of Lambchop, but the band didn't really sweep me off my feet until the turn of the century. Since then, Lambchop has released at least three albums I consider essential, 'Nixon' (2000), 'Damaged' (2006) and 'Mr. M' (2012). There is something about the way frontman Kurt Wagner delivers words in that Tennessee drawl that takes me back to listening to my relatives spinning yarns at reunions back in the sticks of Illinois as a youngin'. Everything was just a little slower and a little simpler. Even when Wagner's tales are filled with melancholy, I still find the music comforting. Perhaps I also like Lambchop because I think this would have been a group my father and I might have actually agreed on.

As for today's pick, this is the second and last song on the countdown with the dreaded f-dash-dash-dash word (as Ralphie would say) in the title. If you only know Lambchop's more recent work, you might find the tempo of this one quite surprising. "Your Fucking Sunny Day" most assuredly doesn't sound like it was sung from a rocking chair. It comes from the band's third album, 'Thriller.' That's a little self-deprecating humor from a group that produced two earlier albums with few sales to show for it. On the off chance this song might have received some airplay, there was a clean version called "Your Sucking Funny Day," which is a smile, but I don't think Merge or anyone else needed to worry too much about such things.

5 comments:

MisterPrime said...

LOVE this song! It's pretty miserable here this morning but this has definitely brought a smile...

Dirk said...

Yes, their best tune, for sure! Not that I know all of what they ever did, but you know what I mean. Would be interesting to hear the adulterated version, never knew it existed!

The Swede said...

Another terrific and unexpected choice. If forced to make a decision, I think I'd probably plump for 'The Man Who Loved Beer', but it's a tough call.

Charity Chic said...

I tried on numerous occasions but never got Lambchop which is strange as I was a huge Americana fan at the time

Brian said...

Hey fellas.

CC, You've got mail. Don't make me fly over there! Just kidding. If we loved them all, well, that wouldn't be fun at all.

Swede, It wasn't too tough a call for me, but I will come clean and say that your pick was on the long list... and it was the only other song by Lambchop from the '90s that was considered. It is pretty damn good.

Dirk, I have never actually heard that version either, but you may find it interesting that the art above, which I got from discogs, is from a German release. It was the only such graphic I could find anywhere with the cleaned up title.

MisterPrime, Happy to hear it brightened your day. Nothing like a good song to take care of that.