Squeeze's "Goodbye Girl"

The hum of synthesizers lay underneath layers of keyboards with a steady beat - the melody almost Tropical. It's like The Beach Boys' "Kokomo" tried to be as satisfying as this songs feel but failed miserably. Talk about pale in comparison - I just insulted myself for typing that sentence... The lyrics tell a story about a one-night stand in where the narrator suffers a robbery. After going up to this hotel with the goodbye-girl, he wakes up in the morning with his keys, money and other belongings gone. To which he compares the situation to his wife having moved to Jersey, "so luck is not the word." Such a happy, upbeat song to go with such an unfortunate turn of events.

Can you love Squeeze subconsciously? I turned on VH1 one night and they were playing Squeeze after Squeeze video. Mostly horrible ones, mind you... but I was so excited. They even had Glenn Tilbrook talking in-between songs. It was the closest I've ever dreamt of coming to being "there." You see I never had the chance to be there when it came to Squeeze. I didn't even realize how much I loved them until 1998. Sometime during my two-week attempt at having a "2nd job" at Cheapo Discs on Lake in Minneapolis, I loved "Take Me I'm Yours" - which my mother listened to a lot when I was growing up, and so I decided to pick up a Squeeze record. I didn't pay it much attention after taking it home, it kind of just sat there ignored on my desk underneath countless band bios and 8x10s beside the Indigo Imac. Then one day, I sifted through the mountain of paper and promotional CDs and had the mind to actually play the disc. I loved every single song on the record. Top to finish. Talk about underrated. I think I'll spin one of their hits when I DJ the party at Rodan on 11/13... Hmm...

Most of my friends' Squeeze-knowledge starts and ends with "Tempted" on their Reality Bites Soundtrack, burned forever in their minds. That ruins me. Squeeze is usually a tough sell because of this. But most their songs that I adore sound nothing like this re-hit. So, yeah - thanks music director for Reality Bites. Thanks for making me repeatedly defend Squeeze to my peers saying, "No, no... they really don't sound like that all the time. Yes, yes... I know they wrote the song but..."

Hey, if The Decemberists cover Squeeze - that means they're retro-hip, right?