My Top 2000 Songs #1153: Shoot The Singer

Including 50% of the tracks from any one album on this list seems excessive... but since Pavement's 1992 Watery, Domestic EP has only 4 songs, I'm down with it. Plus, it's just a perfect little EP (which didn't prevent me from expanding it into a full-length imaginary album).

While "Frontwards" is one of the definitive Pavement tracks (if not the definitive Pavement song), I love "Shoot The Singer (One Sick Verse)" hearly as much. Partly it's the way the track starts--just a cold launch right into the ridiculously banal yet strangely captivating verse: "Someone took in these pants, somebody painted over paint painted-wood." Not exactly poetry, yet still grabs your attention.

But it's really all about the bass. It's got this twangy, punchy sound, more like a de-tuned guitar, and when the whole band drifts away about 2 minutes into the song leaving just that bassline, before returning with a sing-along "la-da-dada," it's like indie rock heaven has arrived.

Live 1995:

Stephen Malkmus solo acoustic, 2009:

Snail Mail cover from this year's Pavement "documentary":

Saloon cover: