Songs You May Have Missed #328

Drink Me: “Waterbed” (1995)

Drink Me, a Brooklyn duo who produced two albums in the first half of the 90’s, were quite simply genius. With a degree of musical economy to match the great Roger Miller or the early Beach Boys, their concise songs could nevertheless pack a lyrical wallop.

One of the problems I’ve always had with the nebulous label of “Alternative Music”, which has been applied to everyone from R.E.M. to Jason Mraz, is that it mostly describes mainstream music. If your albums sell gold and platinum and chart in the top 5, what are you the alternative to?

Just as the word “awesome”, applied to double cheeseburger, leaves one little verbal ammunition for describing the birth of a child, the term “Alternative” leaves us lacking a useful label for music that is truly unlike any you’ve heard before. I would call Brave Combo and King Missile and the early work of They Might Be Giants “Alternative”. And I’d put Drink Me in that category–if the category didn’t include Oasis.

Imagine if Simon & Garfunkel had a sense of humor. And maybe a drinking problem–or possibly bipolar disorder. And a tendency to experiment with hallucinogenics. On second thought: don’t imagine, just listen. Really, there’s nothing like these guys.

The world’s a waterbed

A swaying plastic field of yielding limbs and idleness

A troubled bubble pipe of love but I can’t deny

The pie-eyed piper’s cry

The marriage bed’s a boat

Of sound design and lines beyond reproach

And lashed to the Missus’ mast one could defy

The siren’s sultry sighs

And if youth is a bathtub

Filled with bubbles and toys

Then the water gets cold as you start getting old

And my skin’s getting wrinkled but I’m still lingering

In Time’s untiring car

We sat in back with a flask and clasped beneath the stars

And watched out loose and useless youth go rolling by

But I’m going to learn to drive

In a little while

Every Moment Has A Song