My Top 1000 Songs #128: Stone Cold Yesterday

I first got into the Connells way back in college, when they were at the forefront of the jangly guitar bands (often but not invariably with southern roots) to rise in the wake of R.E.M.'s college radio success. And while I love the North Carolina-based band's mellow, mid-tempo jangle (right up through last year's terrific reunion album), my favorite song of theirs, off 1990's One Simple Word, is an uncharacteristically rousing rocker, pure power pop with a rollicking tempo and chiming guitar hook.

What's the song about? Who knows. Kinda cryptic, but some of those lyrics still connect in a weird way. Something about Jimmy ("a bad dancer, 'til he learned to shimmy") and his standby girl ("a slow burner" who "showed me things I guess I always knew"). Hell, I'm pretty sure I've been singing the chorus wrong for 30 years, but it's got that kind of insanely catchy chorus that works no matter what lyrics you're hearing in your head.

I wish they'd re-upload the video, as the version on YouTube is totally distorted, but here it is:

Live, earlier this year: