For me, this was the song of the year. This year was all about looking back—rather than looking ahead—and this song looks back to two of my favorite years: 2005 and 2003.
2005, because the song is vaguely reminiscent (or steals shamelessly) from “I’ll Believe In Anything,” Wolf Parade’s highest achievement. The year was also one of the highest points in my life, so far.
2003, because the song reminds me of the last time the Kings of Leon really mattered. The year I was abroad in London, and everyone was asking us if we were really into the Kings of Leon. We weren’t. The Britishers I talked with were really obsessed with the Kings of Leon’s over-the-top Americanism. Whatever. But the album really grew on me, and it was a great year.
I haven’t listened to this song the most this year, but—keeping with the theme of looking back—I think I’ll listen to it a lot in the future.
All this fucking around on the Internet is the opportunity cost of doing some truly epic shit.
I was holding this really exemplary radish in my hand. /
I was admiring its shape and size and color. I was imagining /
its zesty, biting taste. And when I listened, I even thought /
I could hear it singing. It was unlike anything I had ever /
heard, perhaps an oriental woman from a remote mountain village /
singing to her rabbit. She's hiding in a cave, and night has /
fallen. Her parents had decided to sell her to the evil prince. /
And he and his thousand soldiers were searching for her everywhere. /
She trembled in the cold and held the rabbit to her cheek. She /
whispered the song in a high, thin voice, like a reed swaying /
by itself on a bank above a river. The rabbit's large, brown ears /
stood straight up, not wanting to miss a word. Then I dropped /
the radish into my basket and moved down the aisle. The store /
was exceptionally crowded, due to the upcoming holiday. My cart /
jostled with the others. Sometimes it pretended we were in a cock- /
fight, a little cut here, some bleeding. Now the advantage is mine. /
I jump up and spur the old lady, who's weak and ready to fall. /
I spot a mushroom I really want. It's within reach. You could /
search all day and never find a mushroom like that. I could smell /
it sizzling in butter and garlic. I could taste it garnishing my /
steak. Suddenly, my cart is rammed and I'm reeling for my balance. /
I can't even see who the enemy is. Then I'm hit again and I'm /
sprawling up against the potatoes. I've been separated from my /
cart. I look around desperately. "Have you seen my cart?" I ask /
a man dressed in lederhosen and an alpine hat. "I myself have /
misplaced my mother's ashes. How could I know anything about your /
cart?" he said. "I'm sorry to hear about your mother," I said. /
"Was it sudden, or was it a long, slow, agonizing death, where /
you considered killing her yourself just to put her out of her pain?" /
"Is that your cart with the radish in it?" he said. "Oh, yes, /
thank you, thank you a thousand times over, I can't thank you /
enough," I said. "Schmuck," he said. The mushroom of my dreams, /
of course, was long gone, and the others looked sickly, like they /
were meant to kill you, so I forged on past the kohlrabi and /
parsnips. I hesitated at the okra. A flood of fond memories /
overcame me. I remembered Tanya and her tiny okra, so firm and /
tasty, one Christmas long ago. There was a fire in the fireplace /
and candlelight, music, and the crunch, crunch, crunch of the okra. /
I have never been able to touch okra since that sacred day. /
We were in the Klondike, or so it seemed to me then. Tanya had /
a big dog, and it ate the roast, and we had a big laugh, but now /
I don't think it's funny. I remember the smell of that roast, /
as if it were cooking this very minute, and I can see Tanya /
bending over to check on it. How did we ever get out of there /
alive? and what happened to Tanya? I look around, peaches and /
plums. I'm buffeted from behind. "Watch it," I say to no one in /
particular. Eight eyes are glaring at me. "I'm moving," I say. /
But I can't move. The rabbit says, "Tonight we will meet our /
death, but it will be beautiful and we will be brave and not /
afraid. You will sing to me and I will close my eyes and dream /
of a garden where we will play under the starlight, and that's /
where the story ends. with me munching a radish and you laughing." /
I can't move," I said.
