My Top 1000 Songs #727: Blue Thunder

[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.] 

Gauzy dream pop from Galaxie 500, the lead-off track on their 1989 sophomore LP On Fire. A slow and muddy river of sound, Dean Wareham sounding almost too sleepy to get the (minimal) words out, gradually reaching a crescendo of falsetto la-la-las... "I'll drive so far away" as a welcome promise.

The single version added a bleating saxophone, but I prefer the album version, the sax interrupting the sleepy calm. (Though the addition of a wondrous cover of New Order's "Ceremony" to the b-side makes it more than worthwhile.)

Video (with sax):

Dean with Luna, live 2011:

The other 2/3 of the band, Damon & Naomi, live 2011: