Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Know Your Onion! - The Shins

Know Your Onion! - The Shins
2:29
Oh, Inverted World, 2001
Written by James Mercer

A indie pop song with a bright, open sound and a Kinks-like melody, if Ray Davies had flooded his songs with keyboards and harmonium.  The lyrics sketch a shy introvert keeping his head down amid a world of loud, aggressive people. "The songs that I heard / The occasional book / Were the only fun I ever took," Mercer sings, his high yelp half-submerged in the mix, which maybe fits with the theme of the song.   The song's optimism outlook despite the odds ("But when they're parking their cars on your chest / You've still got a view of the summer sky") keeps it from being an emo pity party, and rather a small anthem for anyone who ever survived adolescence through music and imagination alone.

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