Sweet Payne starts off on an awkward step as it connects various threads in Almost Killed Me and in the Hold Steady mythology. But it rises from those beginnings to a glorious finish, revealing some of Craig Finn’s best lines and some of the album’s best ensemble playing. It also introduces the idea of the Unified Scene, a defining aspiration and mantra for The Hold Steady, and digs into the Twin Cities as much as anything in the Hold Steady’s discography.
To understand this, we have Shawn Westfall, writer and comedian and founder of The Unified Scene Theater, join us to explain how Sweet Payne fits in, how the dissonance between sunny harmonics and lyrical darkness plays out for the Hold Steady, what hardcore can teach us about the Cityscape Skins, the importance of community, and more. We also bust out a last Map Corner for this season to get deep into the Minneapolis roots.
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 lines in the song: There’s really only one line here, which is “And girl, I’ve seen your friend, she looks nothing like Jada Pinkett / I think you got something in those cigarettes”.
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 flourishing guitar chords that open the song and the back in the pocket groove set us in the middle of the 70s, dead center amidst all the rock and roll stylings of that era, the ones you remember from all those weekends listening to your area’s classic rock station. It’s hard to place the instrumentation anywhere but dead center on the spectrum. But the soaring nature of the song places it a little closer to Billy and Bruce, with a sense that the characters and the listeners are ascending, even if it’s all a set-up for a fall.
Error on our part: We refer to a keyboard in this song, which might be implied in the way the guitar chords ring out at the beginning, but in listening back it’s pretty clear there’s no keyboard.
Overwrought cultural references made on this episode: Shawn elevated the tenor of our discussion, and the Hold Steady has the sort of work that can take on more weight. Still, we may have overreached on the following references, from smallest to biggest overreach:
5. Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys – not really that overwrought, and given the Kennedys got shot in “Positive Jam”, maybe even fitting, but still.
4. The Seventh Seal, which is mostly a reference to the Book of Revelations but also reminds one of Ingmar Bergman’s classic movie.
3. Sweet Jane, because Velvet Underground can always be a stretch, but specifically talking about the extended version is a more extended stretch.
2. Northrop Frye.
1. Baudelaire.
Leftover question: Who is the ‘best Catholic artist/rocker in the world’ beltholder for the mid to late 90s?
Key Episode Insight: The Hold Steady at its best can bring together dark elements and hard rock and turn them into a unifying, empathetic moment. There are few moments that epitomize this more than the back half of “Sweet Payne”.