My Top 1000 Songs #770: Sweethearts

[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.]

Camper Van Beethoven's 1989 LP Key Lime Pie, their last before a lengthy break-up/sabbatical, was a letdown after the alt.rock triumph of 1988's Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart--not bad, by any means, but maybe losing a little of their unique creative spark. Still, "Sweethearts" was among the band's finest moments, a political song buried beneath some gorgeous, authentically heartfelt Americana, just enough of the band's offbeat humor keeping things light. It's a Bush-years indictment of the Reagan era, a stake through the heart of the bullshit nostalgia of the Morning In America fantasy. But the bitterness is masked by the winsome imagery and the melodic beauty of the music.

"'Cuz in the mind of Ronald Reagan, wheels they turn and gears they grind. Buildings collapse in slow motion, and trains collide. Everything is fine, everything is fine." 

Live 2015: