My Top 1000 Songs #290: Driveway To Driveway

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I was initially drawn to Superchunk by their rousing, galloping, next-wave punk rock. But they gradually mixed things up with the occasional mid-tempo, more contemplative track. "Driveway To Driveway," off 1994's Foolish, is one of those, a catchy guitar riff and restrained, slow churn giving it unexpected emotional tension. But it's the ambiguity of the lyrics that's always kept me coming back, a song whose refrain has you singing along while proving almost confrontational. Is it drunken collegiate fun, post-party carousing through neighbors' yards? Or something darker, more violent, far less consensual? Should I be listening with wistful nostalgia for hazy, barely recalled parties, or recoiling from something horrific? As long as that riff keeps circling, I'll stick along for the ride, never quite sure...

"I thought it was you that I had chased, from driveway to driveway, drunk. I don't remember this too well."

Live acoustic in the studio:

Live 2008: