My Top 1000 Songs #671: White Elephant

[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.] 

Hang on to your seats, folks; it's about to get pretty loud in here.

The chaotic post-punk of 80s-era Boston indie act Volcano Suns could be a bit abrasive for these tender ears, a few poppier tracks aside. But "White Elephant," off 1986's All-Night Lotus Party, totally captured my attention and was one of those things I found myself playing on my college radio show all the time in the mid-80s. It just hit my sweet spot, something I still find captivating long since much of the college radio music of the time has faded a bit from memory.

There's that howling cacophony of feedback that opens the track and creates a sonic backwash for the song. As an obsessive collector myself, the lyrical ode to hoarding rings true--"I'm a collector of stuff that most folks ignore!" And then there's that subtly inviting chorus, a refreshingly catchy earworm hook rising from the barrage of sound which always has me shouting along. "I've got a white elephant, whoa-oa-oa, I've got a red wagon, whoa-oa-oa..."

1995 cover version from Arcwelder: