I need to admit something here, and although I’m sure I’ll be judged, I need to get it out in the open. I’m a music Philistine. Although my music taste is wide and varied, much of the music that is widely appreciated by many of my friends and those in my sociopolitical demographic is lost on me. Radio Head? Modest Mouse? All of those obscure Indie bands that everyone listens to? I just don’t appreciate them.

I have friends who sometimes get into these pissing contests, where the winner is chosen by how many bands he or she can name that the other person hasn’t heard of. I avoid those contests, because the only time I can win is when I name people who sang in the 1960s and aren’t anywhere close to “cool.”

So yeah, this feud is all in good fun, but my music, Butter’s music, and Dave’s music will be like comparing Apples to Oranges to raspberries.

Anyway, that being said, the first song I’m going to post is a song by Bishop Allen, an Indie rock band that was obscure a few years ago, but due to contacts with a well-known camera company, I’m sure they’re too well-known now for many indie snobs.

It’s the first song on their album The Broken String, released in 2007, called “The Monitor”.

I think what I like about it is that it isn’t about your usual indie rock songs song fare. There is no one’s girlfriend who is too wild to handle, there is no cheating, and no hanging out with friends. It’s about the USS Monitor and her battle with the Merrimack during the Civil War. The lyrics show that there is an Iron Works at the end of his street:

Once a great ironworks
Stood at the end of my street
And they hauled in The Monitor
Fit her with armor
For to save the union fleet

The River James was on fire
As The Merrimack thundered and raged
And she seemed so colossal and so unstoppable
Until the two engaged
And inside the sound
A deafening din, round after round, again and again
Shattering down, shattering down, shattering down

The music picks up a bit at this point, and launches into the drama, the suffering, the ravages of the war. I think that it really showcases how awful warfare was in those days. I know, I know, war isn’t a picnic now, but holy cow — shoveling coal, loading cannons, trying to stay afloat on this experimental warship.

And I try to shout
But none of them hear
They’re moving their mouths
But the blood in their ears
Is running down, running down, running down

One of the things I like about Bishop Allen is that they have a very distinct melody, they never rock too hard, and there is a great narrative structure to most of their songs, like “The News From Your Bed,” “Corazon,” and a really beautiful, softly lyrical song called “Butterfly Nets.”

Please enjoy, and I’ll see you for the next installment of Daily Music Feud.