Its Been Awhile Since I've Seen Your Smile

I had this friend. She made me what is commonly called a “mix tape”. For those of you who don’t know what a “mix tape” then you haven’t seen the John Cusack film, HIGH FIDELITY-and you’re lucky. A “mix tape” is basically when you take a mixture of songs by different artists and put them all on one cassette. Or, at least that’s what we did in the magical summer of 1998, before an organized crime ring called “Napster” made it easy to mix different songs ILLEGALLY on Compact Disc. Back then we had to listen to our mixes of bunches of songs on a second-generation tape, filled with hiss and pulls.

Anyway back to my point. She made me this tape. I listened to the first couple of songs, all by people I never heard of, had enough, turned the tape off and resumed listening to something like Lou Reed’s “New York” album or even my on blood pulsing through my head. Later on my friend asked me if I heard the song “Baby B*tch” on the tape she made. “Uh, yeah,” I lied. “Isn’t it a great song?” she asked. “Sure is,” I smiled. “Its up there with ‘Hey Jude’ ”. I never heard the damn thing, obviously, but then one day I decided to listen to the whole tape, probably while cleaning out the dead ants from my Ant Farm. I heard the song “Baby B*tch” by Ween and was absolutely overwhelmed. It was by far the greatest “break-up” songs ever written, and therefore technically one of the greatest love songs, I ever heard. The lyrics and production were incredible. The song accurately captured the gut reaction of seeing someone, who carelessly ripped your heart out, a year after the breakup and pretending you are over the relationship when in reality you are still bitterly full of rage. “Its been awhile since I’ve seen you smile / but now you’re back again,” is how it started. The song then goes on a litany of pain caused by this woman leaving the singer. “Got fat, got angry started hating myself / wrote ‘birthday boy’ for you babe / now skinny and sick and paranoid / without a cent to my name”. Ultimately, the singer admits the attraction to his ex, but bitterly concludes that hatred for the woman consumes him. “Baby, Baby Baby B*tch / F*ck you, you stinking @ss ho / most beauty I’ve seen you come from a dream / but I can’t close my eyes anymore”.

As bitter-and vulgar-as the lyrics are, the music is hauntingly beautiful. A friend of mine suggested that it actually sounds like something Peter Paul and Mary may have done-sans the swearing. The harmonies throughout the song are mesmerizing and the guitar-work delicate, but are enveloped in an almost “spacey” production. I was absolutely smitten with the song and after hearing it, it was the first thing I brought up in conversation to my friend who made the tape. She has so happy that I enjoyed the song as much as she did. She told me how much she loved the ending of the song, where the protagonist tells off his tormentor. Then she carelessly ripped my heart out and left the country.

Despite my own painful memories that come swirling back to me again and again until I’m consumed in woe, and ultimately alcohol, I still am totally infatuated with the tune and it still seems as beautiful and interesting as the first time I heard it. I couldn’t believe Ween of all people wrote it. I mean these are the guys whose only hit was the “Beavis and Butt-Head” favorite “Push Th’ Little Daisies” and I hated that song. Didn’t we all? I was conflicted about purchasing the album from whence “Baby B*tch”, one of my favorite songs, came. Could there be other nuggets of musical brilliance buried on the album “Chocolate and Cheese”? Well, it took me about three years to finally swallow hard and invest fifteen bucks. I’m pleased to say, “Yes, there were.”

Ween is a band from my neck of the woods. Well, not really, but I could reach their homes in New Hope, PA within forty-five minutes from where I live, so I consider them local boys. When I got home from the Ol’ Best Buy, and put the “Chocolate and Cheese” CD in the Ol’ CD Player I pleasantly surprised-and relieved. You certainly get your money’s worth when you deal with Dean and Gene Ween (the musical alter egos of Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman) their albums average about 18 songs each. “C&C” has 16 tracks. It opens with “Take Me Away” a blues parody. The second track is the sick “Spinal Meningitis”. The tune is complete with Music Box music and a little girl (Ween uses so many Voice Vocoders that you can barely recognize the vocalist from one song to the next) imploring, “Why do they want to see my spine, mommy? / Am I gonna die?”.

The local boys honor my hometown of Philadelphia with a soulful, funky “Spirit of ‘76”. The band made a video for the song which depicted the brothers Ween rowing down the Schuykill River along Boat House Row with a mock Liberty Bell aboard. According to the band MTV aired the clip, “Like, once.” The first three songs give you a clue that the album is going to cross many genres. It goes from Ween-style sonic experiments like “I can’t put my Finger on It”, “Candi” and “Voodoo Lady” tracks recorded with heavy distortion and simple Casio drum machines. There is also a Mexican murder ballad about fratricide entitled, “Buenos Tardes, Amigo”. The guitar work echoes Neil Young’s on the sound track for “Dead Man”. However, “Chocolate and Cheese” was released the year before “Dead Man” so while it may not necessarily be a fact, you can say Neil Young was inspired by Ween, though I kind of doubt it. There’s also a Country tune, possibly a precursor to Ween’s all Country album “12 Golden Country Greats”, entitled “Drifter in the Dark”.

Along with these songs and the aforementioned “Baby B*tch” are extremely catchy, and well written, pop tunes like “Roses are Free”, “Mister, Will You Please Help My Pony”, “What Deaner Was Talking About”, and the finale “Don’t Sh*t Where You Eat”. These four songs could’ve easily been radio favorites and have charted well. That is if they were released and actually promoted. Ween seems to suffer from what bands like The Black Crowes suffer, they are a very creative, talented band that nobody at their record label seems to care about. For every Pearl Jam, Nirvana clone polluting our airwaves, there are many very versatile and original bands going virtually unnoticed. The other two songs on the disc are the beautiful guitar instrumental “A Tear For Eddie” and the ridiculous “The HIV Song”. The latter being a poppy, carousel-like ditty, that has the vocalist merely repeating the words “AIDS…HIV” on each beat.

“Chocolate and Cheese” is a terrific album. It spans many different styles of music and keeps the listener interested. Admittedly, it’s not for everyone since many people would rather just hear a straight pop album than hear truly experimental forms of music. Since there are a contingent of people that believe the hackey Three Doors Down or the musically horrid, A New Found Glory are rebellious bands (HA!) people who actually expand the musical landscape (or can play their instruments) are going to be ignored. But, if the general record buying public find it inaccessible, I really don’t believe the band would give a damn.