5. Grandaddy - The Boat Is In The Barn
I was very cautious about the Grandaddy reunion album. They were one of my favourite bands of the post Britpop era (saw them live at the Leadmill in Sheffield, early 00s), but I've struggled a bit with Jason Lytle's solo material. As Lytle is the driving force behind the band, I wasn't sure if he could really recapture that old Grandaddy magic again.
Well, after spinning the new record for a few weeks, I think it's fair to say he has. Last Place touches on familiar Grandaddy themes (nature vs. technology, the modern world making us obsolete) and is full to bursting with that curious mix of spacey guitars and sad Beach Boys harmonies. It's a worthy successor to their last album, 2006's Just Like The Fambly Cat, and in places even touches on the greatness of their masterpiece, The Sophtware Slump. (Lytle does like to test spellcheck.)
My favourite song at the moment is this one, a classic break-up record. I had to listen to it a while to work out why the boat was in the barn, but once it clicked, the metaphor was perfect.
I saw you sitting at a table by the water
And you were going through the photos on your phone
You looked so happy and relieved to be there all alone
Getting rid of all of me is what I figured
Delete, deleting everything that had occurred
That's when I backed away and headed out without a word
Oh metaphor-schmetaphor - wasn't sure about the cake one and now this one hasn't even clicked yet. Is it that the picture is in the barn or am I being naive as usual?
ReplyDeleteNope I'm stumped!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it just that he used to take her out water-skiing? Now she's dumped him, he's got no reason to get the boat out of the barn.
ReplyDeleteActually, when I write it like that, it sounds almost smutty.
Here I was thinking it was something complicated and abstract but no, the boat is in the barn because it's simply not needed any more! It does however sound vaguely smutty and it's not even Tuesday yet.
ReplyDeleteThe metaphor cam be quite complex.
ReplyDelete"But no my love ain't gone. The boat is in the barn"
He loves his boat, his "things". Which is what he feels he had left now that the girl is gone. Irony.
The boat symbolises his relationship...
it is gone but still there in his mind. It is also still there in his memories of fun boating times.
It's also a sad empty object just sitting there reminding him of how without others to enjoy them our things can feel pointless.
I'm sure once he gets his mates on that boat with a few beers it will be better.
Top marks to William.
DeleteWow that's the first time I've been scored so highly, thanks.
DeleteJason recently tweeted (Feb 2021) about this particular song explaining that his ex was waterskiing on a lake and the photo of her mentioned in the lyrics is from that day.
ReplyDelete