The Regular Friday Post

Rando Lyric: And all the drunks just stumble by

Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “And I won't go to sleep” is from the song "Via Chicago”, written by Jeff Tweedy and performed by the band Wilco. It is Track 9 on the album “Summerteeth”, released in March of 1999 on the Reprise label. Produced by Wilco.

Credit Wikipedia Link: Summerteeth

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Welcome to The Regular Friday post!

Last week I featured a song by Jay Farrar as the Rando Lyric selection. This week I feature a song, Via Chicago, by Jeff Tweedy, Mr. Farrar’s one-time bandmate in the group Uncle Tupelo (Wikipedia Link: Uncle Tupelo).

Mr. Farrar and Mr. Tweedy formed Uncle Tupelo with drummer Mike Heidorn and had several hit albums. Relations soured, to put it mildly, between Mr. Farrar and Mr. Tweedy, and both moved on to form somewhat competitive bands. Mr. Farrar formed Son Volt (see last week’s Rando Lyric song), and Mr. Tweedy formed Wilco. That leads us to this week’s Rando Lyric song, “Summerteeth” by Wilco. Sorta balances things out a bit…

Mr. Tweedy was going through some hard times when he wrote the song that is today’s Rando Lyric selection, which probably accounts for some of the darkness of the lyrics.

More here: American Curmudgeon: On Jeff Tweedy

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Some Stuff:

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A Song To Play:

So, 4/4 common time (Ed. - as usual! I’m definitely going to have to find some songs with different time signatures soon!), a middling 94 BPM, in the Key of DMajor…aaaand, it’s a 3 chord wonder! That’s not always a bad thing - it gives you (or whoever you might be jamming with) an opportunity to improvise a bit over, or under (bass players….) the rhythm structure and in this song at least, doesn’t distract from the lyrical content. A bit unusual in structure (Ed. that’s also not a bad thing - I like songs and songwriters that bend the “rules” and expectations a bit. Or more than a bit…) - note the Verse, Verse, Bridge, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Outro structure. Uncommon, but works for this song. The combination of repetitious chord sequence - D, A, G, (the I, V, IV - the monotonously repeated chord sequence in this key) - over and over, unrelentingly; and the at best, morose, character of the lyrics sort of create a mood. For what, I leave to you, gentle reader…though some answers may be gleaned from the “American Curmudgeon…” article linked in the “Welcome…” section above. Reading that, you may be able to gain some insight into Mr. Tweedy’s state of mind at that point, and why the (Ed. -frankly disturbing…) lyrics are what they are. I’ll leave that to you, and to the extent you can…

…have fun!!

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Chordify Link: Via Chicago

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Lyrics Genius Link: Via Chicago

[Verse 1]
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

[Verse 2]
I printed 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

[Bridge]
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 won't get up
And I won't go to sleep

[Chorus]
I'm coming home, I'm coming home
Via Chicago

[Verse 3]
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
And I blow it with kisses
I rest my head on a pillowy star
And a cracked door moon
That says I haven't gone too far

[Chorus]
I'm coming home, I'm coming home
Coming home, via Chicago
Coming home, coming home, coming home

[Outro]
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Via Chicago
I'm coming home
I'm coming home

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The “ME!” Section…..

What I’m Listening2: - “I Can't Hide This Anymore”- 25 songs, some more playable than others… (Note - you may have to go to Ultimate Guitar or Chordify - subscriptions required, but worth it - to find chord charts for them)!

Shameless Self Promotion Section:

My song is out! Link: “>Long Road Back<”click on this link for streaming options, then scroll down for links (or just click on these links) to Amazon, Apple, Pandora, iTunes and even Spotify

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If you’re enjoying our content, please let your friends and musician acquaintances know about us!!! Thanks for supporting this free newsletter!

Disclaimer Section

This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention (except when you click on one of the links above for my song - then I might make 0.003 cents - yes 3/1000ths of a cent… just sayin…). Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). *I do not use AI for any of the text that’s found here, things I embed or link to (such as some images) might…

-Michael Acoustic

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This Week’s Conversation With Mika, The Cat:

Mika: ”Explain your reason for interrupting my nap, human….”

Me: “You looked adorable…”

Mika: ”I always look adorable, that’s not an excuse for bothering me at nap time…”

Me: “Yeah, kinda always nap time for you…..just sayin’…”

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Cheers and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic

“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”