Bear Hands - "Giants" (forgotten song)

Last year we got married, and this year we had another significant life event: the joint purchase of our new home in Ghent, which partially inspired the choice of this year's birthday song.

"Giants" is a single from the 2013 Bear Hands LP "Distraction".  It received a moderate amount of airplay on 96X when it came out, although I'm not sure I've heard it on the radio recently.  I liked it immediately: it works the loud-soft-loud, with a frenetic hip hop structure followed with a slower chorus and meaty, early-80s guitar riff, lots of white noise and no negative space -- but I can't remember if Danette had strong feelings about it one way or another.  However, this is another installment in a list of songs that make me think about Danette, not necessarily a list of Danette's favorite songs.

The chorus is the obvious why it makes me think of Danette, with variations of:

I said I know you love me, I am loving you more
I am loving you more

And, a little more on the nose given our recent purchase:

Give you everything that I have ever owned
Soon I will have bought us up a house and home
Up on the seventh floor

Studying the lyrics and commentary a little more closely, there is school of thought that the song is actually about co-dependent junkies ("I've been awake for days in the dusk and the dawn"), but I'm just going to pretend I didn't read that.  Besides, the last several birthday songs have embraced more metaphorical connections; the song feels joyous and we're not going to let a possible Springsteen-esque dark undercurrent ruin the song.

The deciding factor for choosing this song is the video itself: a well-executed but presumably otherwise low budget affair that features the band members posing and what are likely their girl friends in a more celebratory mood.  The director visually conveys a youthful, hedonistic exuberance, and that's how I feel about Danette -- even if we're almost old enough to be the parents of the people in the video.

Bear Hands - "Giants"

Previous birthday songs:

2017: Alvvays - "Archie, Marry Me"
2016: Molly Hatchet - "Flirtin' With Disaster"
2015: Avett Brothers - "Kick Drum Heart"
2014: Ani DiFranco - "32 Flavors"
2013: The Green Pajamas - "Kim the Waitress"
2012: The Cure - "High"
2011: Blink 182 - "Josie"
2010:  Dead Milkmen - "Punk Rock Girl"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Saturday Night Special" (spotlight)

Ed King, one of the original guitarists for Lynyrd Skynyrd, died last month.  He appeared on their first three studio LPs, and then left the band in 1975 (he later returned in 1987 for the post-crash reboot of the band).  Although he is best known for writing the guitar riff Skynyrd's signature song "Sweet Home Alabama" (he's also the one counting off at the beginning of the song), I also recently learned a few things about him.  First, he was originally in Strawberry Alarm Clock -- yes, the same Strawberry Alarm Clock that gave us "Incense and Peppermints" (insert "Listen to the Flower People" Spinal Tap reference here), he grew up in California and was the only member of Skynyrd that was not from the South, and obviously did not have the shared high school experience with the band's namesake, Leonard Skinner.

I had considered marking his passing using "Sweet Home Alabama", and the band's relationship with Neil Young, which despite the name checking in the song was quite positive.  As I've already introduced, Danette and I are big fans of both the band and the genre, but SHA is not our favorite song of theirs.  One of the songs that we do love and never fail to crank up and sing along with in the car is "Saturday Night Special", for which Ed King does have a co-writing credit (and he might have the count off at the beginning of this song too?).  It's a great song and was the only single from their 1975 LP "Nuthin' Fancy".  It also has the distinction of being a member of a trilogy of great Lynyrd Skynyrd songs that violate the lyrical norms of the Southern rock genre: cautioning against substance abuse ("That Smell"), running away from a fight ("Gimme Three Steps"), and being unambiguously pro-gun control ("Saturday Night Special"):

Hand guns are made for killin'
They ain't no good for nothin' else
And if you like to drink your whiskey
You might even shoot yourself
So why don't we dump 'em people
To the bottom of the sea
Before some ol' fool come around here
Wanna shoot either you or me

I recommend, based on the strength of the outstanding guitar work in "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Saturday Night Special", we forgive Ed King for "Incense and Peppermints".

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Saturday Night Special" (studio, live 1976-03-07).