The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

If you had asked me what the most important part of a song was 6 years ago I would have responded with "The lyrics, of course" nearly instantly. I was a lyrics guy. I loved the music itself as well, but the thing that regularly made me fall for a band or a song was the lyrical content. Given that, it's not too surprising that my musical heroes at the time were people like David Bazan, Isaac Brock, and Elliot Smith. In short, amazingly gifted songwriters. I plastered my AIM profile and myspace with verses from horribly depressing songs about life and lost love and everything in between. Words still mean more to me than most things, but over the past few years the sounds made by guitars and drums and synths and chimes and anything at all that can make a noise overtook the words being sung as the thing I listened for. It's all recently come full circle as I'm back on a bit of a lyric kick. The old Elliott Smith and Modest Mouse albums are getting dusted off and played more frequently. An interesting thing that I've found, is that, while I am listening to the lyrics more, I'm being affected by different lyrical subjects than in the past. An example of this is that I've just realized that I've become a sucker for songs about cats. I dare say that my favorite album of 2005 was South San Gabriel's The Carlton Chronicles:Not Until The Operation's Through. The Carlton Chronicles is a 9 song concept album about a cat who runs away from home, and that cat's journey back to his master. It's an absolutely amazing record, and one that I cannot recommend highly enough. Now, more recently, I've come across another song about a cat that hits me quite hard. The song, called "Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure" follows much the same lyrical path as The Carlton Chronicles. A cat runs away, journeys home and longs for the familiar embrace of her master's lap. It sounds really dopey but I am affected more by these well written and poignant songs about a cat's love for it's master than a thousand songs about some guy's broken heart. I guess, in the end, the answer is simply that I'm a bit older and maybe a bit more jaded and suddenly I find myself relating far more to a cat who's lost and misses it's owner than a kid with a broken heart. Broken hearts seem easier to fake.

The Weakerthans - Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure

Pre-order Reunion Tour here (out 9/25 on Epitaph)