Anti-Climacus

16 DAYS/ EXCUSE ME WHILE I BREAK MY OWN HEART/ DRANK LIKE A RIVER



Those who know their Oasis are aware of the problem that arises when one sets out to create something that will be memorable (especially when one sets out to be anthemic). Craft is required, certainly, but too much craft ruins the entire thing. Noel Gallagher did his best work when writing a song that might be sung at a football stadium was one goal among many: as it assumed greater importance, his ability to achieve that end diminished (one thinks of Hemingway's verdict on Fitzgerald, the line about the butterfly).

I cannot precisely explain why "16 Days" has always seemed to me effortlessly brilliant while "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart" comes off as formulaic and contrived: perhaps it's the difference between saying what one wants to say and implying it (I re-read The Sun Also Rises a few years ago, and what struck me was the absence of direct emotional content: one has to read a great deal into it, but one always does--thus the book becomes caught up with the circumstances of reading it, more one's own because less the author's); perhaps it's the difference between the song structure--"16 Days" can loop around on its main guitar line forever, fine as it is, while "Excuse Me..." is a song to jam on; but, whatever the explanation, part of it is because Ryan Adams tries too hard on "Excuse Me..."

(Parenthetically, I think "Drank Like A River" is such a good song--better than "Excuse Me..."--again because it is effortless.)