My Top 1000 Songs #1000: Ill Fated

[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.]

Holy crap, this 1000-day insanity is finally over! Time to get a job, I suppose. (Which isn't to say I haven't already sketched out songs #1001-2000, but as the daily viewers of this page have declined from a few thousand to some guy who fat-fingered a Google search, not sure if I'll bother...)

Gave some thought to doing something colorful for #1000--a kitschy novelty song, an obvious banger everyone knows & loves, something wholly unexpected from left field... but, nah, just ending up on a really nice song. Amiable, lovable, an old friend to hang out with this summer.

Plucked from indie-Americana supergroup Golden Smog's first full-length release, 1995's Down By The Old Mainstream, "Ill Fated" is another track penned by Soul Asylum guitarist Dan Murphy. And it's further proof that Murphy was tragically under-utilized in that band. Here he blends catchy pop and gentle jangle into the sort of song you just want to have wafting in the background when friends drop by for a drink. The sort of song that would be a summer camp fireside sing-along in a more rational universe. Anyway, enjoy, and we'll see what happens next...

Early acoustic version by Murphy with Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner:

Golden Smog, live 2022: