Another in my random series’ of musical posts, OCMA stands for ‘Obsessive Compulsive Music Awards’ wherein I identify songs that, once first heard, I tend to listen to a lot in a short period of time. And I mean a lot. Like double-digits a day. Or, an hour, if I’m really locked into it.
Since much/most of what I listen to still tends to be what is called ‘Progressive Rock’ (whatever that means), many OCMAs would go there, but I want to start off with a song (or two, depending on when I get to it) that doesn’t fit that category. Instead, it is a song that fits into the ‘one-hit wonder’ category, although the song was never a hit really, just one song from a group whose output otherwise, well, kinda sucks.
The band is Loquat. Having just looked it up, a loquat is a type of fruit tree. I suppose that’s as good a source for a band name as anything.
Anyway, the song is called ‘Swingset Chain’ and is a song about the absence of a friendship (whether temporary or permanent isn’t clear), the recollection of memories of someone absent. It’s reminiscent of The Sundays and their hit “Here’s Where the Story Ends”. A female singer with a pretty voice singing over a ‘lush’ arrangement (whatever the hell that means).
Since the song is about absence, the lyrics are, naturally, poignant:
“There's a playground that we used to run on
The penny-drop that broke her arm
The monkey bars that you fell from
The swingset chain that stuck with my tongue
It's thirty below and we're far gone
If you plant yourself here I wouldn't miss you for long
But then comes the day when you leave town
I'm back to the way I was when you weren't around”
and later
“You're a dandelion seed
That flies through the air
And lands randomly
Then disappears”
It ain’t Shakespeare, but as I’ve mentioned previously, I don’t really expect Shakespeare in my rock lyrics. But, it does evocatively and hypnotically capture a mood (the cynic in me says it needs a guitar solo, but not everything needs a guitar solo….most everything, but not everything).