An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS: All For Swinging You Around
Written by A. C. Newman
Produced by The New Pornographers
From the album Electric Version, Matador Records, 2003
The giddy appeal of pop music has but one real requirement: you. All of you. Body and soul. It is all for swinging you around.
Is there more to life than that? I guess. I guess there's supposed to be. But sometimes, in the moment, we really do just need to dance. And we could do worse than dancing to the music of the New Pornographers.
Some could describe Vancouver's phenomenal pop combo the New Pornographers as too clever for its own good...as long as one intends it as compliment rather than snark. Like indie pop darlings the Shins and Huntsville, Alabama's somewhat lesser-known (but fascinating) Sex Clark Five, the New Pornographers have been known to craft tracks with no discernible fear of piling hook upon hook, nor any shyness around the notion of using wordplay to paint impressions in the air. The result can be so catchy, yet imbued with a casual sense of depth, meaning, even purpose, in what is avowedly a pop song. All for swinging you around.
Among the group's members, expatriate American Neko Case has had the highest extracurricular profile, with a string of albums and media attention over the years. She was also responsible for the single best ever reference to the Mad Men TV series, when a Playboy writer's attempt to categorize her work by gender prompted her curt reply, "Don't Peggy Olsen me, motherfucker."
The first time I ever heard Case was incidental, when she was drummer for the twee pop trio Cub in the early '90s, right around the same time I also heard her eventual New Pornographers bandmate Carl Newman (aka A. C. Newman) playing guitar with the Canadian band Zumpano.
The New Pornographers released their superb debut album Mass Romantic in 2000, but it fell under my radar at the time; it was their second album, 2003's Electric Version, that got my attention. Its tracks "The Electric Version" and "The Laws Have Changed" scored significant airplay on This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, thanks to my co-host Dana. "All For Swinging You Around" captivated me like flames entrance a moth, aided in no small part by a rock video that plays out like a gleeful war of the teen cliques, High School Musical meets Freaks And Geeks. They all come out swinging.
That's what it's about, right? In the larger sense? Not just this song, all the songs, all the records we love. Guitars, bass, and drums. Microphones. Piano. Tambourine. French horn. Vibes. Theremin. Harmonica. Tape loops. Mixing board. Washboard. Turntables. Saxophone. Sousaphone. Accordion. Bagpipes. Banjo. Pedal steel. Fiddle. Cello. Timpani. Cowbell. Maracas. Piccolo. Moog. Penny whistle. Calliope. Farfisa organ. Marshall stack. Handclaps. Voices. Sound. Sweat. Music.
Swing around.
It doesn't matter what we use to make our music. It doesn't matter which music we love, or even if there's music we don't like as much, or at all. We dig what we dig. I say it a lot, but I can't say it enough: We dig what we dig. Our brothers and sisters do their version of the same. There's room for all of it on the radio, somewhere. At least there should be.
You like a different sound? That's all right. I'll have a listen. Maybe I'll learn something, or maybe it'll leave me cold, and I'll just go back to digging what I dig. The process of discovery includes finding things that aren't your thing. But it also includes the opportunity for revelation.
Where would I be if no one had ever turned me on to specific music, specific artists, that I either didn't know or didn't properly appreciate? Hell, where would I be if Dana hadn't played the New Pornographers on our radio show? I'd be poorer for that lack. There is so much out there. There is so, so much out there.
We won't all like the same things. We won't. But there may be overlap. There may even be a common ground where we can dance. We can hear what we need to hear, not just what we want to hear. We can groove individually. We can stand together. We've got to stand together.
In life, it's important to have long-term goals. Maybe that's it: it's all for swinging you around. Honestly, when it comes to following a path, we could do a lot worse than that.
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