My Top 1000 Songs #478: IHOP

[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.]

Among the litany of great Luna songs--I've mentioned a few on this list and could probably go on and on--there's no denying that "IHOP," from their 4th LP, 1997's Pup Tent, is on the dopier side of the spectrum. Dean Wareham uses a spoken-word deadpan to deliver some pithy absurdity. "Is there a doctor in the house? In the House of Pancakes? You've got a banana split... personality."

Whatever. It's all layered over a buzzing guitar loop, somewhere between Robert Fripp and Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan, giving the song an energized, droning groove that stands out from Luna's typically more languid pacing. I've always found it an electrifying highlight in the Wareham catalog.

Live 1998: