My Top 1000 Songs #808: Mr. Odd

[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.]

The Jazz Butcher, led by the late great Pat Fish, left behind a large catalog of wonderfully fun, often absurd music that ranged from bright jangle pop to pre-Britpop to driving post-punk. Naturally, I tended to gravitate to the funny, upbeat stuff, which more immediately grabbed your attention. When 1990's Cult Of The Basement came out, the obvious go-to was "She's On Drugs," a terrifically fun rocker, great fodder for mixtapes. 

But the track that truly haunts me from the record is the somber, downbeat "Mr. Odd." It's an atypically introspective tune full of truly lovely guitar jangle, still packing Fish's absurdism but in service of something that feels more serious and soulful.

"Square leg, square root, square egg, new fruit, nice suit. Nice!"

No idea what that means, but my heart has forever been with this out-of-place Mr. Odd who lives next door. Hope he's doing ok.

Alternate version with fan-made video:

Live 2018. RIP Pat Fish.