Giving The Boss and Fiona Apple one more try
Mary Beth and I went to a new place last night for a belated anniversary dinner. Now I can't stop hearing the restaurant's name in my head, sung to the tune of "Jungleland." VEE GAN PEEETZ UH LAND!
So why is Bruce Springsteen living rent-free in my head? Because earlier yesterday, I recorded an episode on The River, and I had spent the previous week immersing myself in The Boss' 1980 double album. (This hasn't stopped me from having a lyrically-altered version of a track from Born to Run stuck in my brain.)
If you listened to my conversation with Rain Perry about Nebraska from four years ago, you already know that I have long had a fraught relationship with Springsteen's music. The short version: Jocks at my high school idolized The Boss, and I was very much not a part of the jock crowd, not to mention a fairly recent transplant to the Bruce-crazed suburbs of North Jersey. 45-plus years later, I still have a hard time shaking the negative associations I built during my teen years.
I gained a greater appreciation for Springsteen's music as a result of listening to Nebraska and talking to Rain, but I was eager to give another album a shot—particularly one that came out during the peak years of the New York media's and my high school's infatuation with The Boss. It's only fitting that the guest who chose The River is the singer, songwriter and satirist Bossi. It just couldn't be more perfect.
It will be a few more weeks before I'll be publishing Bossi's episode, but I am really looking forward to getting this one out. In the meantime, if you haven't watched Bossi's Finishing School for Difficult Women videos, they are a must-see.
What's new on You, Me and An Album?
The latest episode of YMAAA is another one where I revisit an artist who has been discussed on a previous episode. In fact, this is actually the third time a guest has picked a Fiona Apple album, and for this episode, Kelley Dugan and Mina Walker of Daisy the Great chose Extraordinary Machine. Though the ambivalence I once had over Apple's music never reached Springsteen-like levels, I did pick up a little bit of baggage during the Tidal era, when radio DJs were feverishly hyping Apple's debut record. (I'm starting to notice a pattern here.) I let go of that baggage a while ago, but after listening to Extraordinary Machine and chatting with Kelley and Mina, I can honestly count myself as a fan.
In the previous episode, Texas based singer-songwriter Candace Hastings gave me an introduction to Adam Carroll via his 2000 album Lookin' Out the Screen Door. It's an album that Candace has a direct personal connection to. Be sure to give this one a listen. It's a fascinating album, and Candace has some incredible stories.
What's next on YMAAA?
Before you get to hear Bossi on The Boss, I'll be publishing my conversation with Laura Veirs on the 2021 album Promises by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra. Laura and I also chatted about her fantastic just-released (as in it came out yesterday) album Temple Songs. We also talked about why Laura wasn't sure if she would make another album and why she switched the album's title late in the process. After that, I talked with Rafael Melo about a completely new-to-me artist and album, the 1972 self-titled release from Arthur Verocai. We also discussed Rafael's latest work as Late Again, the upcoming EP I Dreamt I Was Awake.
Not far beyond these episodes will be the 250th episode of You, Me and An Album. If there is anything you would like to hear on the show or see in this newsletter to coincide with Ep 250, please let me know in the comments! And if you have any food-related Springsteen parody songs, you can toss those in the comments as well.