2000 Great Songs #1201: The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness

The opening track off The Feelies' stunning 1980 debut Crazy Rhythms may be the perfect encapsulation of what an old friend of mine has called Jittery White Guy Music (lending this blog, and my book, their titles). A long, slow introduction of erratic percussion and steadily-growing guitar jangle, finally cutting loose into a jagged, frenetic fury after a good minute of warm-up. The rest is caffeinated nerdy dude jitter, miniature duels of guitars and tribal rhythm bouncing between your speakers. A call to arms for those of us proud to be relentlessly uncool.

(BTW, there's a fantastic Spanish/Scottish indie band who nicked this song title for their band name--though their music sounds little like the Feelies, and a lot more like jangly pop bands like Teenage Fanclub. You should check them out!)

Live & raw, 1983:

And in 2019:

As discussed by the band in 2025's amazing Life of the Record podcast (which any fan of the record needs to check out):

Alex Kemp cover: