Timothy McSweeney's Header Image

- - - -

Now available for preorder:
The San Francisco Panorama
.

- - - -

" S O M E T I M E S "
B Y   J A M E S   J U S T   T O T A L L Y
D O E S   I T   F O R   M E .


BY MIKE KWOLEK


- - - -

What I want from a song is for it to throw me into a physical reaction, but a good one. Not like I want to puke or something, but it's all shivery and spot on perfect and you know for a fact there's no way anything else would equal it right then and there, so you just have to skip back when it's done, maybe even 3 or more times.

So I had a James phase for a while a few years ago. I have band-phases like 800 years after they're everywhere and I miss all their mind boggling shows they did at some club that fits 13 people and limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies 2-part CD singles and all that. I always miss all that stuff. So this was well after Laid was an 'underground sensation' and 120 Minutes and the James lads in dresses and all that. I mean I'm listening to the Best of which, incidentally, breaks one of the "Rules," but that's a whole other thing—the Rules of Music Appreciation or Something. But the point is that I really, really loved this song "Sometimes" and I did the replay-replay-replay thing with it back then and all that. But like I said, it was a phase, and not that I stopped liking James at all, but I just put them back in the Hole-My Bloody Valentine shoebox in the cabinet with all my "catalog" CDs.

Now it's however long later and "Sometimes" pops into my head all vaguely-like, but— I have to remember to grab that disc next time I'm home. So it's Saturday, and I'm kind of getting hungry and I'm driving around trying to figure out what I want to eat and I remembered the CD, so I put it on and skip to track 13—"Sometimes"— and immediately I'm there again. I'm driving down Bloomfield Ave. and I'm really about in tears. I mean, I'm welled up— it's not like my cheeks are all salty, but my eyes do feel big and squinty, which isn't too safe for driving I guess, but there's this certain synthy Eno hum and the way the flippy-sounding acoustic guitar and the other sounds fit so well and the way the words are, they're perfect. The singer guy even does the talking/singing thing at some parts, and it doesn't even sound bad. That's how good the song is. It's not like I'm feeling like a mega depresso-head at that moment or it's even some bleak and desperate sad sack song. In fact, it's actually a remarkably buoyant song when it comes down to it, but it just gets me so perfectly that I have no choice but to well up around my eyes and get all tingly on my arms and spine.

 

 

MORE SONG ESSAYS

- - - -

MAIN PAGE | ARCHIVES



Memories of Amanda Davis




Red dot denotes content that is new today.

Black dot denotes newish content.

McSWEENEY'S STORE

SUBSCRIBE TO:
McSWEENEY'S
THE BELIEVER
WHOLPHIN

FUTURE McSWEENEY'S BOOKS

THE AMANDA DAVIS HIGHWIRE FICTION AWARD

INVITE A McSWEENEY'S AUTHOR TO SPEAK IN YOUR TOWN OR COLLEGE

THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING

McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST

BOOKSTORES WITH A McSWEENEY'S DISPLAY

McSWEENEY'S-RELATED EVENTS AND VARIOUS TOUR DATES

ORDER INQUIRIES AND ADDRESS CHANGES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
FOR BOOKS
FOR THE QUARTERLY
FOR THE WEBSITE
FOR WHOLPHIN

McSWEENEY'S INTERNSHIPS

CONTACT US

- - - -

LETTERS TO McSWEENEY'S

LISTS

McSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS

REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD

NEW WHOLPHIN FILM

DAN LIEBERT, VERBAL CARTOONIST

TEDDY WAYNE'S UNPOPULAR PROVERBS

NON-ESSENTIAL MNEMONICS

BITCHSLAP: A COLUMN ABOUT WOMEN AND FIGHTING

DISPATCHES FROM A GUY TRYING UNSUCCESSFULLY
TO SELL A SONG IN NASHVILLE


GLOBAL WAR ON BEDBUGS: LETTERS FROM BEDBUG CITY

THE CONFLICTED EXISTENCE OF A FEMALE PORN WRITER

OH MY GAWD: A COLUMN ABOUT A TEENAGER NAVIGATING RELIGION

DISPATCHES FROM MANILA

DISPATCHES FROM AN INDIAN CASINO

THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST

CHRIS WHITE ANSWERS PROFOUND
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PRESIDENTS


REPORTS FROM THE PINBALL SCENE

LETTERS FROM THE HELLBOX

NOTES FROM AN AMATEUR SPECTATOR
AT AMATEUR MIXED MARTIAL ARTS FIGHTS


B.R. COHEN'S DAYS AT THE MUSEUM

CONVERSATIONS AT A WARTIME CAFÉ

AND HERE'S THE KICKER:
MIKE SACKS'S CONVERSATIONS WITH HUMOR WRITERS


GRANT MUNROE'S CORPORATE FOLKTALES

SARAH WALKER SHOWS YOU HOW

DISPATCHES FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER
WHO IS TRYING TO GROW A MUSTACHE


DISPATCHES FROM A HANGDOG BANKRUPT

DISPATCHES FROM THE CAPITAL

DISPATCHES FROM INDIA

THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL

SEAN MICHAELS LISTENS TO MUSIC IN MONTREAL

SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES

KIDS' LETTERS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE

YOUR MONEY, YOUR JOB ... YOUR LIFE, WITH ALISON ROSEN

KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE

ABOUT THE WILD THINGS

ABOUT THE CONVALESCENT

ABOUT FEVER CHART

ABOUT GOD SAYS NO

ABOUT ZEITOUN

LETTERS FROM AN EARTH BALL
TO, OR CONCERNING, SEAN HANNITY


E-MAILS SENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FLAG-FOOTBALL TEAM


TRAVELING EUROPE IN STYLE WITH AUCKLAND DINGIROO,
DARK-AGE TOURIST AND CRITIC OF FOOD AND DRINK


JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES

INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS

FLIP: A COLUMN ABOUT SKATEBOARDING

OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND

DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN

MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY

DAN KENNEDY SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS WITH PAPER

STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT

- - - -

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL