John Ashbery’s relationship to nouns makes a surprise cameo in this short piece regarding the re-recorded release of an indie pop song.
2nd Grade Shares Rerecorded Version of “Favorite Song”
Wish You Were Here Tour Out June 25th on Double Double Whammy
May 18, 2021 | By Caleb Campbell
Photography by Abi Reimold
Philly-based outfit 2nd Grade had a breakout year in 2020 with their debut record Hit To Hit, a tight collection of sub-2 minute indie rock in the vein of Big Star and Guided By Voices. With those plaudits in tow, the band has now gone back to their previous catalog, re-recording old material in higher fidelity.
The original version of Wish You Were Here Tour was recorded by Pete Gill on Garageband in a friend’s bathroom. Now the 2018 record is getting new life with the full five-piece band reworking eight of the original tracks, along with remasters of the 14 original recordings and an outtake. The full record is out June 25th on Double Double Whammy but the band have also shared their new version (and remastered demo) of “Favorite Song.”
“Favorite Song” is exactly what fans of 2nd Grade have come to expect—upbeat, sweet, and tender power pop. Gill gives the vocals a lot more energy and the fuller recording adds more attitude than the song’s bare-bones demo, but at the core of both tracks is a plaintive nostalgia for the carefree days of childhood. Gill runs through innocent teenage romance and the songs that soundtracked them, from the Beatles’ “Yesterday” to Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” and Prince’s “Sixteen Blue.”
Gill says of the track, “It amazes me on just how many levels “Favorite Song” works, for a sub-2 minute song that practically wrote itself. It’s a total celebration of listening to music, my absolute favorite thing to do in this world. It’s an attempt to tell both sides of a sad misunderstanding. It’s proof of the John Ashbery quote about how proper nouns are the most descriptive words in the English language. Not least of all, it’s a carefully crafted piece in the tradition of “April Come She Will” that nonetheless rejects such a tidy narrative. The stories we tell ourselves through pop music often fail to square up with the facts of our predicaments, but sometimes they can make us feel a whole lot better.”