My Top 1000 Songs #680: Stray Dog & The Chocolate Shake

[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.] 

Here's another one of those songs that finds its way onto this list not because I can confidently proclaim it as one of History's Greatest Songs, but simply because something about it captures a particularly moment in my life and will always have some sort of indefinable emotional resonance for me.

A deep cut from indie band Grandaddy's 2003 LP Sumday--the record that got me into the band, and probably still my sentimental favorite--"Stray Dog & The Chocolate Shake" is an eccentric yet amiable little ditty. The songs is dominated by a cheesy keyboard riff that sounds like a kid playing scales on a Casio toy piano, accompanied by random, highly detailed tales of assorted people and places conveyed in Jason Lytle's understated deadpan, conjuring Dazed & Confused-reminiscent observations of stoner kids as they cruise around town. 

"There's a shitty limousine parked in front of the bar, it never got to drive any movie stars. But the guy in the driver's seat don't care, with his weird cologne and his magic hair."

It's all absurdly specific yet still colorfully evocative, propelled by that wonderful Casio riff, and always conjures a personal vibe of the early aughts for me.

Fan video:

Live 2003: