My Top 2000 Songs #1015: Read About Seymour

Like several other early post-punk innovators (see, e.g., Pere Ubu, Mission of Burma, P.I.L.), I tend to find UK act Swell Maps a little too challenging for extended listening. (I'm much more partial to the solo work from late Maps drummer Epic Soundtracks, who offered lovely piano-based balladry far removed from his work with the band.) 

Which, as with the others, doesn't mean they don't have a few numbers I absolutely treasure. 1978's debut single "Read About Seymour" is unusually straightforward, a brief (barely 90 seconds) blast of punk/ska quirkiness rendered more durable with a few affecting touches--the raggedy group-shouts (later to be revived by bands like the Libertines), the colorful percussion. Not designed for lasting significance, yet somehow, maybe inadvertently, manages it.

Live version from Jowe Head (Swell Maps guitarist, later of Television Personalities):