Ted's Song of the Week - 3/06/06

The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

The indie cool kids from Brooklyn show they can rock on this track from their debut album. This is a great song to chill to. I especially like the fact that singer Alec Ounsworth can sing completely out-of-tune and still make the song sound good. You can almost hear the joy these musicians are feeling while playing this tune.

The one thing about this track that really stood out is its likeness to the Cure's "Just Like Heaven." Both repective tracks introduce a wide array of instruments to create songs that are constantly picking up steam. Kind of like a snowball effect. The major differences between the Cure classic and "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" is the latter's disturbingly gross title and Ounsworth's ability to sound completely smashed. I keep thinking of Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) stumbling across the stage on the "Last Nite" video when I hear this CYHSY song.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth


Lyrics:
Once - The dogs have quit their barking
"Son," - my neighbor said to me.
"Know the emptiness of talking blue
the same old sheep."
Run - I'll do no more this walking
Haunted by a past I just can't see
Anymore
Anymore

But let me tell you I have never planned
To let go of the hand that has been
Clinging by its thick country skin
To my yellow country teeth

Far - Far away from West Virginia
I - Will try on New York City
Explaining that the sky holds the
Wind the sun rushes in and a child
With a shotgun can shoot down
Honeybees that sting
BUT THIS BOY COULD USE A LITTLE STING!

Who - Will get me to a party?
Who - Do I have yet to meet?
You - You look a bit like coffee
And you taste a bit like me
How - Can I keep me from moving?
Now - I need a change of scenery
Just listen to me I won't pretend to
Understand the movement of the wind
Or the waves out in the ocean or how
Like the hours I change softly slowly
Plainly blindly oh me oh my!