Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Australia

Australia by The Shins

When ever I'm in a bad mood or feeling sorry for myself (which, I must brag, doesn't happen too often); I find the right songs to play to pull me out of my bad mood. It's more like taking two Advil's for a really, really bad hangover in which you got really, really drunk and mixed the Trinity of booze, but it makes me feel better for a little while.

I'm not in a bad mood right now, but I am a bit overwhelmed. I'm sure work can be stressful, but in my short work experience (two years plus summer jobs), I've never been as overwhelmed as the amount of pressure, stress, and work school can deal at times. Usually with work, you can pass the buck, or attempt to pass the buck; maybe even reason with your boss. But with school? There's none of that; you've just got to do what you have to do AND do it well. I think this is the big difference between work and school... there are no grades in work. Maybe an annual evaluation, but that's really about it. With school, the hits just keep on coming.

So what does this have to do with Australia? Well it's such a cheery song that my mood can't helped to be lifted a bit. "Dare to be one of us, girl,/Facing the android's conundrum" come on, that's pretty great. And this song pretty much has everything a cheery song needs:
1) Background vocals that go "lalala"
2) A chorus that builds and builds, reaching higher and higher from the verse AND each previous chorus.
3) A banjo. How great is the banjo? In fact, let's make this the second rule of the Blog: Any pop song that features a banjo is great.

Watch:

4 comments:

Helen said...

That was a cheery song, and one I hadn't heard before. And I'm with you on the banjo. I'm constantly picking up notices about banjo lessons (although I've yet to act on them). One of them listed 3 reasons for learning how to play the banjo, 1 of which was "To make you smile."

Indigo Bunting said...

Right there with you on the lala and the banjo.

Otter said...

This is a great disc. I feel floaty when I listen to it.

Otter said...

As G-Lynn always likes to remind me, this to shall pass. Until then you've got The Shins. Love, CeCe