All My Favorite Songs #38: The Backyard

Of all the jangly guitar college radio bands of the 80s and 90s, Miracle Legion tended to be on the moodier side, the world-weary vocals of frontman Mark Mulcahy skirting the niceties of more straightforward pop. But the title track from the 1984 EP The Backyard rises above, a simple, insistent guitar hook supporting lyrics that to this day mess me up on every listen. I find it a deeply personal track, and others may hear it differently, but to me it's a wistful, heartstring-pulling look back at lost youth, an ode to someone--a parent? an older brother or sister?--who left an indelible impression. They cut down the apple tree in the backyard, but was something else (or maybe someone) also lost? "The world was so big, and I was so small. Your voice was always the loudest of all." Shit, I'm choking up just thinking about it.
Acoustic in '93:

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