“Positive Jam” set out what the Hold Steady cared about, but it was “The Swish” that showed who the Hold Steady were and what they were about.
Matt Brooks (Washington Post) joins us again to break down the first big rocker of the Hold Steady’s album career, track two of their debut Almost Killed Me. We get into the musical elements, including the ringing guitars and the AC/DC tricks, as well as the lyrical elements – the name drops, the geography, the specificity. We explain why Joni Mitchell is an underrated but lyrically tied reference for the Hold Steady, argue over whether the song ends well, and debut our special feature section, Map Corner.
Here’s the episode itself.
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Here are a few categories and things to listen for, in the song itself and in our podcast:
Best Line in the song: We have too many to just narrow down to one. Here’s a top 3:
- I’m so well connected, my UPC is dialed into the system
- I blew red white and blue into a tissue, I came over the counter just to kiss you
- Tights and skirts baby, skirts and tights, we used to shake up in shaker heights, this chick she looked like Patty Smyth, she was shaky but nice
Top 3 Celebrity Comparisons
- Some people call my Andre Cymone, because I survived the 80s one time already
- Patty Smyth, because come on, aren’t we thinking about Patti Smith? But this sounds better
- Robbie Robertson but people call me Robo
Top 3 pop culture references
- The Neal Schon to Nina Simone to Andre Cymone roll
- Circuit City (and One-Hour Photo) for references that didn’t last long
- Joni Mitchell’s lyric drop to start the song, pills and powders baby, powders and pills.
Our favorite location name drop
City Center is a fun one because it’s less obvious, but Newport News evokes a lot, and sets up both the Elisabeth Shue reference and the Hold Steady’s favorite verb on this album, bruise.
Best musical moment: The return to the intro guitar crashes at the 3:05 minute mark, to prepare us for the final leg of the song, with a great lead guitar line stepping in.
Billy Joel/Bruce Springsteen or AC/DC/Thin Lizzy?: Every Hold Steady track seems to exist on this spectrum. It’s a contrast between loud, guitar-driven rock that takes no prisoners and more of a soulful, troubadour lyricism both in the melody and the lyrics themselves. Like any band, the Hold Steady is at their best when they forge their influences into a unique sound. But it’s still fun to try to rank their songs by which side of the line they’re closer to, so we do that frequently on our podcast’s episodes. And even if we don’t remember to do so live, we can revisit here thanks to our handy graphics department.
“The Swish” is about as far to the Thin Lizzy and AC/DC side of the spectrum as the Hold Steady can get – guitar chords that ring out, the snarl in the lyrics, unrelenting rock. You could talk yourself into Craig Finn’s fast-paced lyrical delivery being something like Springsteen on his debut album, but you’d probably be trying too hard.
Worst take of the episode: While Mike’s proposal that the ending is bad was the spiciest, Daniel’s comparing the b-section guitars to water in a toilet bowl, come on, that belongs in the toilet.
Then again, Mike looking for lines about Tatooine and Alderaan…what a clever kid.
Biggest question: It has to be the ending, since Mike brought it up; is it a good ending or does the song fall flat? We think we talked Mike out of it, but even asking the question raises the doubt.
Background reading: Here’s a link to the Vulture interview Matt referred to (again).
Music video: Yes, they made a music video. Here it is.
Review of the week: Shout out to kudmatsukyle, who had this to say:
Thanks, kudamatsukyle, we hope we live up to your expectations throughout!
For the audience: What’s your favorite line from this song? And do you buy the Band/Joni Mitchell comparisons for the Hold Steady?