Songtown - Vol. 5 (Did I Say)

Artist: Teenage Fanclub
Song: Did I Say
Album: Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Six Seconds: A Shortcut To Teenage Fanclub
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In an unprecedented move, this week, I'll be attempting to only reminisce about three-syllabled songs that end with an -ay sound. If I can successfully navigate to this goal, I'll buy everyone a meal at Chile's!

So, you had to figure it was only a matter of time before I started breaking out the Teenage Fanclub. I fear that I use to talk about this band way too much, so I've attempted to distance myself from them over the last few years. But rest assured, they're still probably my favorite of the still-going variety.

In 2003, the Fannies released a career retrospective. Retrospectives are the wave of the future as fewer and fewer bands are writing great hits. Although this release boasted a few remixed and remastered tracks, in addition to a Pink Floyd-esque sleeve, the real draw were the three new tracks. One from each of the chief songwriters. Raymond McGinley continued to improve his songwriting with "The World'll Be OK." Gerry Love continued to coast on cruise control with "Empty Space." But Norman Blake took it to the next level with "Did I Say."

I remember taking some sort of Beatles appreciation class at CCBC-Essex where the topic turned to love songs within one of the first few sessions. It was brought to my attention that it took the Beatles something like five albums before they wrote a song that wasn't about love. On a grander scale, this is obviously true in terms of pop music in general. 99 out 100 songs are going to be about love. But it wasn't until that class, that I fully comprehended this reality. It also made me feel a little better about my own songwriting. I feared that I was becoming a bit too one-note, and probably had, but I could now

That's why it was weird when Teenage Fanclub released 2005's Man-Made and Norman didn't have one song about love on there. Later, I read an interview with him where he said that he thought he had written enough love songs (read: nearly every single song before this album). So, as of this moment, this means that "Did I Say" is the last love song that he'll ever write. I'm sure he's already returned to the topic, but, if not...

This is the ideal last love song. Its a simple reflection upon the blossoming of his marriage...or something. "Hey, did I say that I smiled when I first heard your name? Fell in love and now I still feel the same way." How semi-precious is that?

The production is just gorgeous on this one. The harmony never leaves the lead vocal's side. The piano and string sounds are ones that I'd never be able to reproduce. Those rolling snare fills all over the place. This makes me feel like riding a horse.

And what time signature is this in? I once spent a whole afternoon driving around listening to this on repeat, attempting to "teetee ta ta" my way through it. Once a song isn't 3/4 or 4/4 anymore, I lose track almost immediately. I know that I write songs and I know that I once studied math, but, really, no clue. Please, someone make me feel like an idiot.