My Top 1000 Songs #610: Death And The Maiden

[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.]

Heading back to New Zealand's early 80s indie scene. This list has already paid props to faves like the Clean, the Chills, the Bats (and, more recently, Look Blue Go Purple), now it's the Verlaines' turn. On this infectious yet skewed slice of jagged jangle pop, the band, having already turned to French poet Paul Verlaine for their name, go all in with a chorus that simply repeats his name in an endearing, sing-along manner. The 1983 single makes for an ideal band calling card, fun indie pop given an oddball spin with that weird waltz breakdown in the middle, and another definitive genre standout.

Live 2012:

Pavement's Stephen Malkmus makes it his own, from a 2002 tribute to Flying Nun records: