My Top 1000 Songs #830: No Shine For The Shoes

[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.]

For their second album, 1985's fine Wonder Wonderful Wonderland, midwestern retro-psychedelic act Plasticland went all-in on their reverence for Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and, most obviously, the Stones' Satanic Majesties Request. They share the jangly, druggy flavor of the like-minded Rain Parade, but with a rawer garage band edge. While the record (and the band) is largely a nostalgic pleasure from my college radio days, the opening track, "No Shine For Your Shoes," has always stuck in my head. 

Walking a fine line between trippy and rocking, it's got a catchy melodic hook and some great harmonies, but what really lodged in my brain is that refrain, "What do you around town?" There's something magical about the casual yet candy-coated hook that, some 40 years later, still randomly pops into my head when I find myself walking around the city and letting my mind wander, singing to myself, "What do you do around town? What do you do around town?"