Lord, To Be 33 Forever

Greetings, faithful readers.  Tonight, we here at the Cuddle are feeling a little down, a little melancholy, yet we can see the silver lining in everything.  As I was rolling into work today, listening to a playlist on the trusty iPod, the sweet sounds of The Hold Steady came ringing through the speakers.  Now, there are myriad bands that beg to be played in the summertime (The Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead come to mind), but Craig Finn and his crew might be my favorite.  There's nothing better than wailing guitars and songs about the misguided follies of youth sung by a guy my age.  There's something reassuring about having musicians out there who can speak from experience and represent what it's like to be in your 30s, having made plenty of mistakes, trying to learn from them, and stopping short of telling others not to make the same ones.  Each Hold Steady album is great (we even chose Boys and Girls In America and Separation Sunday as co-best albums of the decade HERE) but tonight has me thinking about Separation Sunday a little more.
Through 11 tracks, Finn manages to be ridiculously verbose while spinning tales about getting wasted at camps along the Mississippi River, being at parties that are way too druggy, trying to buy drugs from Mackenzie Phillips, and finding redemption despite our foibles.  This is the record that introduces the terms "hoodrat" and "banging camp" into your vocabulary, takes you to Ybor City, City Center (in Minneapolis), and Penetration Park, and allows us to meet Holly, Gideon, and Charlemagne as characters in the Hold Steady universe (here's a tip - they don't do many redeeming things through the course of the record or the next couple, either).
It's Craig Finn's delivery that clinches this record, though.  He's a storyteller, first and foremost, not really a singer.  Those who don't worship the band often point to this as the reason why they can't get into their records, but allowing it to wash over you for a while will lead to the realization that he's truly a lyrical genius.  Check out all of the little details about the hoodrat friend that makes the narrator sick - including "tiny little text etched into her neck: it says 'Jesus lived and died for all your sins'" and the "damn right you'll rise again" tattoo on her lower back (guess why you'll rise again with this one...).  And despite describing why she makes him so reviled, he says, "your little hoodrat friend got me high, though" - so much for redemption.  The great thing about all of this drugging, dirty sex, poor choices, religious imagery, and searching for love in all the wrong places is that The Hold Steady never make judgements about any of it.  It's all just shit that happens - live with it and move on.  There's something that's very reassuring in that - with time and perspective, we can look back on our dirty pasts and make some sense of it all.  "How a Resurrection Really Feels" may be the penultimate song in the album's cycle (as far as the characters go - with Holly crashing into a church and pleading with the priest to allow her to preach her own private gospel to the congregation - her own personal resurrection), but for me, "Stevie Nix" is the song in which Finn pulls it all together.  He can't decide which he'd rather be - seventeen forever, or thirty-three forever.  In the end, it doesn't really matter - would you like to make mistakes over and over again, or have the time and perspective to look back on them fondly or otherwise?  This is where I am tonight, dear readers - stuck between stations on how I feel about where I am - pretty sure that 33 is fine with me, but oh, to be 17 again and make those glorious mistakes a few more times...

You can bet that Separation Sunday will be cued up for a while in the Cuddle Cruiser... enjoy these:
The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday (2005):
"Cattle and the Creeping Things"
"Your Little Hoodrat Friend"
"Stevie Nix"
"How a Ressurection Really Feels"

Until next time, let the sounds of the Hold Steady sing you through summer... and listen...