Man it sucks being Lloyd Cole. I mean, only he could release an album called Love Story, and not have a single positive thing to sing about the topic. And yet, despite the drunken despair, the caustic commentary, and the sarcastic sensitivity… Cole somehow always manages to find the beautiful sweet-smelling rose in morose.
All these trauma-tinged tunes are inexplicably upbeat and catchy. Indeed, the amazing thing about Love Story is it’s joyous musical incongruity. How can songs like “Love Ruins Everything” and “Unhappy Song,” make me want to dance and hum along? Why do lines like: “The more I learn, the less I know” resonate with me and make me smile? Maybe because even though these songs are full of failed relationships, lost loves, and personal missteps, like a Raymond Carver short story, they are also laced with happiness and contentment in the face of adversity and against all odds. And hey, we all need that. When the minstrel of maudlin momentarily lets down his guard, like on the aforementioned “Love Ruins Everything” one can only laugh at the self-deprecation and wonder who’s fooling who.
Hey, hey, hey,
Look at me now,
I’m unrecognizable.
My trademark frown
Has grown
Into the strangest easy smile.
And oh, my, my,
Where did I go wrong?
Ask all my drunken friends.
Love Story was released in 1995 and it reached #27 in the UK charts. Once again,three singles from the album charted, and today’s Happy Medium Song of the Day is one of them. “Sentimental Fool” is quintessential Lloyd Cole from an album that would turn out to be his last solo effort of the ’90’s.
(Please use the comments box to share your thoughts.)
All these trauma-tinged tunes are inexplicably upbeat and catchy. Indeed, the amazing thing about Love Story is it’s joyous musical incongruity. How can songs like “Love Ruins Everything” and “Unhappy Song,” make me want to dance and hum along? Why do lines like: “The more I learn, the less I know” resonate with me and make me smile? Maybe because even though these songs are full of failed relationships, lost loves, and personal missteps, like a Raymond Carver short story, they are also laced with happiness and contentment in the face of adversity and against all odds. And hey, we all need that. When the minstrel of maudlin momentarily lets down his guard, like on the aforementioned “Love Ruins Everything” one can only laugh at the self-deprecation and wonder who’s fooling who.
Hey, hey, hey,
Look at me now,
I’m unrecognizable.
My trademark frown
Has grown
Into the strangest easy smile.
And oh, my, my,
Where did I go wrong?
Ask all my drunken friends.
Love Story was released in 1995 and it reached #27 in the UK charts. Once again,three singles from the album charted, and today’s Happy Medium Song of the Day is one of them. “Sentimental Fool” is quintessential Lloyd Cole from an album that would turn out to be his last solo effort of the ’90’s.
(Please use the comments box to share your thoughts.)