I Love You Golden Blue

The second to last song on the album Nurse is called "I Love You Golden Blue."



The album Nurse came as a surprise to me. I had no idea the band was working on a new record, even when I got a sneak peek at some new tunes in at a show in June 2003. In 2004, I was very oblivious to many things around me and the fact that a new Sonic Youth album was coming in May, I was all the more happier, and it made the summer of 2004 even more memorable.



A promo copy of Nurse came to the WTMS radio station sometime in April or March. A freind of mine at the station was kind enough to burn me a copy a month before it's release and the last track was "I Love You Golden Blue." To my surprise on the release date in May, "I Love You Golden Blue" was the second to last song, followed by "Peace Attack." Other promo versions of the album had "I Love You Golden Blue" as the first song. Strange huh?



Oddly enough, when the band spent May through October on tour for the record, "I Love You Golden Blue" was the set opener. This song features Lee on the organ, which he would eventually do in the live set.

Like many Sonic songs, I think this one is about death. Or the death of a friend.

This is a strange kind of song. It features a sound scape opener for a good 2 minutes before any guitar comes in. The entire song acts like a soundscape and sounds like something that could have been on the NYC Ghosts and Flowers album. Nonetheless, it falls into a category of forgotton songs that only really existed to compliment the time period. It would be weird if they started doing this one again.

Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style

The fourth song on the album Murray Street is called "Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style."

This has got to be one of the weirdest titles in the Sonic Youth catalog, but strangely enough they actual use this line in the lyrics of the song. Pretty damn creative if you ask me.

I realy don't know what this one is about. It is one of my favorites from this era and it's a shame it never made it past the 2003 tour. I often wonder if it's another one of Thurston's songs filled with nothing but gibberish and slang words. I'm sure the title was just something that spilled out of his mouth at one point and it became cemented into the songs fate. Or maybe Thurston is a bonified genius.

Most of this album was done in two different tunings. On this track, Thurston is playing in CGDGCD while Lee is playing in GGDGGA. This features some great tunings. Around this time, Thurston was usually playing the top two strings ringing open while riffing on the bottom four. Lee has a similar technique in his playing as well. But what strikes me about this tuning is the noise factor. This song breaks into noise after the two main (and rather wordy) verses end. Apparently there is a trumpet and saxophone on this song, but I can't tell. Please bring this back!

Cool Videos!

Here is a really cool video from 2003!

The abnd is playing "Catholic Block" from Sister but the video has it labeled as "Plastic Sun"

Here is Empty Page from the same show:

Plastic Sun

The second to last song on Murrary Street is called "Plastic Sun."

In the early part of 2002  Sonic fans got a small preview of the upcoming Murrary Street album via SonicYouth.com.  "Plastic Sun" was given away as a free download when the song was released as a promo in the wrong pitch. The free download features a few different lyrics and a different bass line. I used to have it, I should go look for it...

:::45 minutes later::::::

Ok. Can't find it, but I still have a few other places to look.

Plastic Sun reminds me of older Sonic Youth. Almost as if this song could have appeared on Confusion Is Sex or even Bad Moon Rising. There is no real chord progression and the song is driven by a thumping bass line along with Thurston and Lee doing all the guitars on drumsticks. Sounds pretty old school to me. Even the syncopated drum line with the lyrics "i hate you and your greasy friends" fits the scheme of the 1983 era of the band.

This song was debuted at the 2002 All Tomorrow's Parties. It has not been played since 2005. That's a shame because it's one of my favorites from the last few records.

Karen Revisited (Karenology)

The fourth song on the album Murray Street is called "Karen Revisited."

This song appears on the album as "Karen Revisited" but appears on every setlist as "Karenology." It has been told by Lee that the official title of the song is "Karenology" and was not changed in time to be changed for the pressing of the album.

If you own the vinyl of Murrary Street, this song has been displaced because of its 12 minute running time. It appears on the cd as track 4 but comes in as track 3.

This is another song that was morphed from a series of jams. Kim was supposed to sing this one, but Lee penned the lyrics and it became what it is. The other song in question was Sympathy for the Strawberry.

I don't have much to say about this one because it is my least favorite song on Murray Street. I feel the actual 4 minutes of the song would have been enough. This is one of the few times I feel the band has ruined a song with a noise jam. For a good solid 2 minutes, there is a high pitched fuzzy feedback that really hurts my ears. It wouldn't be so bad if there was something else happening. The song builds and has a nice finally when Lee yells "ask me if I care!" After that, I usually skip the rest of the song, sorry guys.....

I always wonder if this song is about Karen Carpenter. The band seems to be obsessed with her. what's with the name Karen? It gets used and kicked around a lot.

"Karenology" was debuted in September 2001 as an instrumental with all the other songs from the record. It was played nightly from 2002 to 2003. It has not been played since 2003.

Rain On Tin

The third song on the album Murray Street is called "Rain On Tin."

Opening the doors to the studio has always been one of the coolest things about the internet. In 2001, the band began to embrace the the networking power of having a website and the "Echo Cam" that was on 24/7 in the studio made the excitement of a new record all the more exciting. I had heard many of the instrumentals that were "new" songs, but a finished record in my hot little hands in January 2002 was far off. I would have to to wait until June.

"Rain On Tin" was always a favorite from Murray Street. I believe there is a total of 15 words in the entire song! The song comes in with a few short lines followed by a cymbal crash and some dissonant chords behind each line. Then a "sonic" jam starts and continues for the next 5 minutes, ending the song with some well coordinated guitar work between Thurston and Lee. I have always thought that this song was borderline instrumental and maybe the band thought adding some lyrics could keep it from ending up as an instrumental. There is no real middle portion to the song but there is definitely a start and a finish. I could take this song as an instrumental because it does not feel jammy, it feels very well thought out.

"Rain On Tin" was played nightly, sometimes opening shows, throughout the 2002-03 tour. It came back in the form of an encore in 2004 several times, including the show I saw in  Atlanta in August 2004. It was cool to see them pull it out on a different our and not abandon it like some other songs

Disconnection Notice

The second song on the album Murray Street is called "Disconnection Notice."

While the band was making murray Street, the placed a webcam in the studio so you could watch them recording. It was on at all hours of the day and night and was pretty cool when you flipped it on and saw Jim, Lee or Thurston sitting at the mixing board. Pretty cool stuff.

In late 2001 Thurston told Rolling Stone that they were under no obligation to deliver a new record but have not heard from the label since the end of the previous year. Even with no label interest in a new record, the band went ahead on recording, after all, Geffen gave them the money to build Echo Canyon, the studio that sits on Murray Street.

I have always thought that this song was about Sonic Youth's relationship with Geffen. The 90's were over and the ever evolving music business has cast a shadow on on the early nineties, but the world has had a taste of Sonic Youth long before 1991. Part of me wants to think this song was about getting dropped with the line "did you get your disconnection notice? Mine came in the mail today." The next few lines "they're telling me that i'm disconnected" which could refer to Sonic Youth's place in popular culture or mainstream music. On paper the band looks terrible, but in eyes of the fans and record buyers, Sonic Youth were rock and roll gods. This explains Thurstons "what if" approach to the record.

"Disconnection Notice" was debuted in September 2001 as an instrumental. It has been played sporadically since the 2002-03 tour.