My Top 1000 Songs #294: Fourth Of July

[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'm that weird Dean Wareham fan who prefers his work with Luna over the Galaxie 500 days. While I enjoy the latter's moody dream-pop, I find some of it a bit on the murky side, lacking the brighter, more vibrant electricity (and hooks) he brought to Luna. But "Fourth Of July," which opens up G5's third & final LP, 1990's This Is Our Music, is injected with shimmering energy, serving as a bridge to Wareham's later super-group (not surprisingly, it was the rare Galaxie 500 song he'd play with his later band).

The infectious pop gem is abetted by a treble-happy riff and some rolling percussion (and, yeah, I'm obviously a sucker for songs that find the space for some na-na-na's). And Wareham's spoken-word narratives are a hoot. "I stayed at home on the Fourth of July. And I pulled the shades so I didn't have to see the sky. And I decided to have a bed-in, but I forgot to invite anybody." Silly and somber, enlightened by the surprisingly cheerful refrain, "I feel alright when you smile!"

Performed live by Luna, 2021 reunion tour:

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