I’ve fallen in love with this song again. It’s not that I ever really forgot this song, but The Fashion Focus has been off my radar for a good 15 years. When I picked this album up again to write about it, “Too Much Fun” grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. Half the days that I’ve skipped writing about this album have been because I’ve been too busy listening to this song. I also was not ready to let this song go so I have delayed.

I’m doing something different with this review. I feel like the music often gets short shrift in my reviews as I tend to focus more on the lyrics. So this review is going to be all music. The lyrics are just another song about judging boys and girls for doing what they are prone to do together and how they will face the consequences of their lack of imagination. We’ve heard that story before. This review will get the same treatment that anything I am in love with gets – I will over analyze it, take it apart and study how the individual pieces make up the whole. I want to know this song as a lover knows the hills and valleys of the body of her beloved.

It is hard for me to describe how this song impacts me physically. It is almost sexual. This song touches me where I need to be touched and pounds when it needs to. It knows exactly where to go to fit my body and my brain. It knows when to tease, when to hold and when to move. My breath hitches at unexpected moments. Before I know it, my eyes water and tears drip down my face. As the song ends, my whole body feels satisfied and spent but not exhausted. But just like that line in Brittney Howard’s song “Stay High” (one of my new musical obsessions): “I already feel like doing it again, honey”. I hit rewind and go at it again. The song still finds ways to surprise me, no matter how many times we get together.

This crying business surprises me. I’m not a person who cries at just anything. What is it about this song that hits me this way? My mentor did her dissertation on the experience of crying and she says that we cry when the body and the spirit are overwhelmed. It could be sadness. It could be laughter. Whatever it is, it is more than our bodies are attuned to handle. In other words, we encounter something that is just too much. And this song is definitely too much. When I run the song through this app I have that shows how much sound there is in a song, this song maxes out the spectrum for the entire display. It is too much even for the app to handle. Consequently, this review of the song may be too much as well; if it’s not, then I’m not doing the song justice.

Let’s start off talking about the time signature. Early on, I was convinced that this was in a weird time signature because things hit when you don’t expect them to. But I counted it out. It’s a normal 4/4 with a couple of half measures thrown in a few places. Those unexpected hits are because of the variation, measure by measure, of where the strong beats and accents are. Just to give you a sample of this, here are 12 measures with the strong beats/accents marked in bold.

0:30 – 0:43
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

0:43 – 0:56
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

0:56 – 1:10
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Do you see how it is never the same? It goes on this way for the entire song. If I am to answer why the song continues to surprise me, I have to start here. It is in the very foundation of the rhythm of the song.

Now, let’s move on to the rest of the music. I will break it down into sections of 4 measures, each section lasting about 15 seconds. In each section, I’ll tell you everything I hear (this may end up being my dissertation by the time I’m done with it).

We’ll break it down into these parts:
1. Rhythm 1 – The tone is distorted and heavy, sounds like a chainsaw. At least one of these guitars is using a chorus pedal. It usually follows the bass. This is actually probably about four guitars playing the same part.
2. Lead 1 – This is the easiest part to identify in the mix. The best way I can describe the tone on this guitar is that it sounds like wind whistling through a metal pipe attached to an airplane.
3. Rhythm/Lead 2 – This has a cleaner tone and usually stays in the mid-range.
4. Bass – Umm, it’s the bass.
5. Percussion – It’s the drums with a few surprises thrown in.
6. Vocals – Yep, there’s a few surprises here too.
7. Keys – Yes, there are keyboards on this song.

And here we go.
0:00 – 0:16
1. We start with a muted rhythm guitar scratching out the tempo. Notice how JM hits the half note of the 4th beat? Pay attention to that. That half note on the 4th beat is important. The rhythm sets up the descending chord progression that is is the heart of the song, ending in that pounding riff in the fourth measure.
2. Where the rhythm descends, the lead ascends. Step by step, it gets higher. It rides on the same note through the fourth measure riff until it slides up the string on the fourth beat of the last measure.
3. Rhythm 2 plays jangly full chords in the mid-range.
4. The bass jumps in on the fourth beat of the riff and hits the half note too.
5. The drums don’t pick up until the fourth measure riff, hitting strong on the half notes.

0:16 – 0:30
1. The riff leads right into a crushing Emin chord. Can’t you just feel that low E string buzz right in your soul? The rhythm follows the standard descending chord progression.
2. The lead goes up an octave from the rhythm in the first measure. It descends to mid-range before doing some string slide pyrotechnics in the fourth measure riff.
3. Rhythm 2 is still playing jangly chords.
4. The bass follows the descending line of of the main rhythm guitar.
5. The drums settle in to the song in this song. Accents on the half note of the fourth beat of each measure keep you on your toes; they hit before you expect them to hit. The cymbals hit on every note and half note until the riff where they hit on the first beat and the half note of the second beat.

0:30 – 0:43
1. Rhythm 1 follows the standard chord progression.
2. Lead 1 starts on a high note but with even more expression as it descends and rides some feedback over the riff.
3. Rhythm 2 still playing jangly chords.
4. The bass follows Rhythm 1 until it goes up an octave in the fourth beat of the riff.
5. The accents on the half note of the fourth beat of every measure are stronger now.

0:43 – 0:56
1. Still cranking out the chord progression.
2. Lead 1 gets even more expressive. It holds on to the same note for almost two measures, jumps up, then goes down for a harmonic notes. More string slides on the riff with a “wah wah wah” that sounds like a motorcycle revving up.
3. Still hitting jangly chords.
4. The bass follows the descending chord progression until throwing in a surprise by going up an octave on the fourth beat of the riff. It is a good counter to the descending line in Rhythm 1.
5. Drums are still varying the strong beats and accents. Sometimes they hit later than you expect, sometimes earlier.

0:56 – 1:10
Big girls like telling boys that always shove

1.The volume comes down to make room for the verse. Rhythm 1 plays a slow succession of notes instead of full chords. It joins in with the bass for the riff in the fourth measure but doesn’t hit as hard as it did during the intro.
2. Lead 1 rides some feedback in the first measure, then fades out.
3. Rhythm 2 switches up to jangly arpeggios.
4. The bass carries the chord progression during the verses. It jumps up an octave on the fourth beat of the riff.
5. The drums go simple during the verse. Strong beats remain consistent. It hits on the half note of the third beat now, instead of the fourth. During the riff, the drums wait to hit hard until the third and fourth beats.
6. The vocals are doubled. JM didn’t have as much control over his pitch at this point. The variations in pitch make everything sound a bit eerie.

1:10 – 1:23
Fact is, is nothing more than too much fun / and they….

1.Rhythm 1 plays a slow arpeggio before ending in a chord in the first measure and repeats this in the second measure. It switches to a chord in the third measure. It hits the notes on the low E string hard during the riff, building up the tension.
2. Lead 1 retreats during the verse.
3. Rhythm 2 plays arpeggios and has a bit of feedback on the third and fourth beats of each measure. The feedback creates a slow pulse in the background, helping to build up the intensity.
4. The bass carries the chord progression. It starts to hit harder during the riff. It jumps up an octave on the fourth beat of the riff.
5. The drums keep up the simple pattern of the verses but hits every beat and half note of the riff, getting louder with each beat.
6. The pitch of the double-tracked vocals really wavers on “fact is”. They don’t hit syllables at exactly the same time on “too much fun”. One of the vocal tracks is just a millisecond off. Eerie yet again. The vocals pick up the “And they” from the next lyric on the fourth and half note beats of the riff.
7. A keyboard chord swells in the background during the fourth measure.

1:23 – 1:31
Fade / They fade out

An interesting thing happens with the rhythm during the break. It starts with one four count measure, adds a two count half measure, then back to a four count measure. There may have been sf59 songs that used timing variations like this before, but it never hit me the way the break in this song does.

1.Full on, heavy distortion on an Emin chord. Just layers and layers of it for six beats. Moving that up a half step on the half note of the second beat of the half measure is just creepy as hell. It’s not on the beat where you expect to hear a chord change. Once it changes, it’s not the chord you are expecting. Like, who just moves up a half step in a chord progression? I can swear that I hear a spinning speaker effect in here somewhere.
2. The lead blends in with the rhythm here.
3. Jangly guitars hitting on the second and fourth beats of the measures.
4.The bass hits hard right along with Rhythm 1.
5. The drums play a standard beat during the first measure. There’s a strong beat during the half measure just to throw you off. Back to normal for the first two beats of the third measure, then we get a bit of a drum fill on the third and fourth beats.
6. By picking up the “And they” in the previous section, all the emphasis can go on “fade” in the first measure of this section. In case you didn’t get it the first time, “fade” is repeated again in the half measure with a jump mid-word to a higher pitch. JM really wants you to know these boys and girls will fade. One of the vocal tracks goes a bit flat during the first “fade”. I don’t know if this was intentional or not. It could be that JM couldn’t control the pitch. It could also be that he wanted it to sound just slightly off so that you would know that this fading business is no good.

1:31 – 1:45
They fade out

1.The fourth chord in this progression moves down a half step from the previous chord. After holding this chord for a measure, it goes back up a half step. This mirrors the half step move at the beginning of the break section and doubles down on it. Oh, you think that half step move sounds creepy? Well, here’s two more. How you like that, huh?
2. The lead steps out with a mid-range note that it holds for most of this section. There’s a couple of string slides before hitting a high note that cuts through all the other sound at 1:45.
3. Rhythm 2 follows 1 in the chord progression, but I think it’s using a spinning speaker effect here.
4. The bass does a nice string slide at 1:44.
5. The cymbals are used well here to ride above all the sound from the guitars. There are strong hits on 1:35 – 1:38 which accentuate the changes in the chord progression.
6. JM really wants you to know these kids are going to fade out. The vocals are smoother and in pitch here with just a slight waver on the last syllable of “out”.

1:45 – 1:58
1. Rhythm 1 sounds even more powerful now, especially during the riff. Is it possible that even more guitars were added in for this part at this point?
2. Lead 1 really jumps into the forefront here and shows you what the rest of this song is really about – crazy adventures in feedback. What even is that wobbly noise that Lead 1 is making over the riff section?
3. Rhythm 2 is making a lot of jangly noise in between beats. It’s a small thing really, but it’s those harmonics thrown in when there’s so much else going on that gets to me.
4. The bass follows along with Rhythm 1 here.
5. The drums make a point of hitting the half note of the fourth beat in the first three measures. Rhythm 1 and the bass are also hitting the half note. This is one of those tricks that ninja surprise you about this song. While you are paying attention to that scorching lead, the rhythm section is jumping in early before each measure. It builds the tension. During the riff, the drums pound on alternating, low pitch drumheads.

1:58 – 2:12
1. Rhythm 1 and the rest of the rhythm section continue to hit on the half note of the fourth beat of the first three measures.
2. Lead 1 rolls into a little bit of feedback at 2:03. Then it goes into some vibrato. The lead almost sounds like it is groaning on the last two notes of this section.
3.Those jangly guitars are still taking up space between the beats and, God, I love it.
4.The bass goes up an octave on the last beat of the riff.
5. The drums switch things up from the previous section by alternating between drum and cymbal hits during the riff.

2;12 – 2:25
Big boys like dead end girls that always shove

1.Rhythm 1 retreats to make room for the vocals. It joins in with the bass for the riff.
2. Lead 1 rolls into some feedback after the end of the last section. It holds the feedback until 2:18.
3. Rhythm 2 plays some jangly arpeggios.
4. The bass goes up an octave in the riff.
5. The drums go back to a steady beat. They wait until the third and fourth beats of the riff to hit hard.
6. The pitch on the overdubbed vocals is off a little bit. You can hear it most on “boys” and “shove”.
7. Do you hear that pulsing sound that hits on every beat? That, my friends, is a keyboard. As we get deeper into the song, more textures get added. I’m convinced that there are keyboards earlier in the song, but I can’t hear it well enough to describe it to you. The pulsing is clear enough here to hear it and it just one more thing to add to the tension, like the ticking of a time bomb telling you something is about to happen.

2:25 – 2:38
Fact is, it’s nothing more than too much fun / And they

1.Rhythm 1 stays in the background but gets stronger in the riff.
2. Lead 1 retreats to make space for the vocals.
3. Rhythm 2 still doing those jangly arpeggios.
4. The bass follows Rhythm 1.
5. The drums hit every beat and half note in the riff, getting louder with each beat.
6. Again, by adding “And they” to the fourth beat of the riff of this section, it sets up the emotional impact of the next break section.
7. The keyboard pulses are stronger here.

2:38 – 2:46
Fade / They fade out

1.Rhythm 1 comes back strong with lots of distortion.
2. I can’t hear the lead part here. It may be mixed in with the rhythm guitar.
3. Rhythm 2 is doing jangly chords but on beat instead of in between beats. The strumming pattern goes double time on the third and fourth beats of the last measure.
4. The bass follows Rhythm 1.
5. The drum takes the forefront during the half measure.
6. You can hear the pitch variance with the overdubs most on the first “fade”.
7. The keyboards switch from pulses to playing the notes that Lead 1 played in the first break section.

2:46 – 3:00
They fade out

1.Rhythm 1 still filling out sound with all that distortion.
2. Lead 1 hits a few accent notes, then rides some feedback. There’s two string slides at the end of the section.
3. Rhythm 2 mostly follows the Rhythm 1 but the strumming speed increases at the end of the section.
4. The bass slides down the string at 2:59.
5. The drum and cymbal hits accentuate the chord changes in the rhythm guitars and bass.
6. There’s still some pitch variance in the overdubs here but it is not as bad. Mostly, the vocals sound tired at this point. I guess it’s all this fading out.

3:00 – 3:14
1. Now we are getting to what this song is really about – just walls of guitar sound. Rhythm 1 is playing stronger now and this is how it will remain for most of the rest of the song. It moves up an octave at the end of the riff.
2. At this point in the song I begin to lack the words to describe how expressive the lead is. It wails. It groans. It protests.
3. The strumming on Rhythm 2 intensifies. It plays on the beats and the space between beats too.
4. The bass goes up an octave at the end of the riff.
5. The drums start hitting on the half note of the fourth beat of each measure. Again, while you are distracted by the lead, the rhythm section builds tension by hitting earlier than you expect. Total ninja stuff here.

3:14 – 3:26
1. Rhythm 1 slowly builds the intensity in the background.
2. Lead 1 does 6 different string slides during the riff. Six!
3. Rhythm 2 also continues to build intensity.
4. The bass goes up an octave during the riff.
5. The drums continue to hit on the half note of the fourth beat.

3:26 – 3:40
Dead boys

1.Continues building intensity.
2. Lead 1 screams, shakes and wavers.
3. Rhythm1 becomes Lead 1 at the feedback coming in at 3:36. I don’t know if the guitars actually switched the parts or if it is just that I can’t hear the jangly guitars anymore after that second lead comes in. Maybe it’s that this post already has too many numbered lists even for me and I’m only halfway through the song. I need to downsize. This is too much.
4. The bass follows Rhythm 1.
5. We are starting to get some drum fills now.
6. “Dead boys”. Wait, what? Yep, he sings “dead boys” here. It’s deep in the mix but you can hear it between 2:27 – 2:29. Listen for the “s” at the end of “boys” to find it. Once you hear it, you can’t ever unhear it again. This may have been a marker for a third verse that just never made it into this world. I think that was the case since it doesn’t seem to be overdubbed.

3:40 – 3:53
Dead girls

1.Continues building.
2. Lead 1 wavers on the first note, then repeats the same notes we’ve heard the lead play in previous sections. What is different this time is that the lead holds on to those notes a little longer than before. There’s three string slides over the riff but instead of sliding up to a high note, it lands on a gravely low note.
3. I can’t hear a second lead part here but I still hear the jangly notes.
4. The bass goes up an octave at the end of the riff.
5. The drums are still hitting on the half note of the fourth beat.
6. You can hear “dead girls” from 3:40 – 3:43. Listen for the “s” in “girls” to find it. This is the last vocal part on the song. Vocals are now retired.
7. I hear a single keyboard note repeating during the riff.

3:53 – 4:06
1. It goes on and on.
2. Lead 1 stays low but plays the same note intervals as previous sections. It rolls up to to some mid-range accented notes over the riff.
3. Lead 2 is coming back, I swear.
4. The bass goes up an octave during the riff.
5. The drumming pattern is altered during the riff. You hear cymbals when you expect drums and drums when you expect cymbals.
6. I hear a keyboard, mainly in the left speaker, but not well enough to describe it.

4:06 – 4:20 (*snicker*)
Are you ready to fly yet? Everything is ramping up.

1.It’s going on for now but it’s about to change.
2. Lead 1 sounds almost tortured in the first three notes. It keeps ascending until it alternates back and forth, faster and faster.
3. The jangly guitars are hitting punctuated chords that counter the flow of the rhythm.
4. The bass goes up an octave during the riff.
5. The drumming in the riff is powerful with lots of space in between the beats.
6. The keyboard is still there hitting pulses along with the jangly guitars.

4:20 (*more snickering*) – 4:34
Fake out. It’s time to get mellow, y’all. You wanted to keep going for it, didn’t you? But, see, this is the key to great music and great sex. You don’t go for that high as soon as you can. You don’t even go for it when you think it’s reasonably appropriate. Four minutes in seems appropriate, doesn’t it? This is the difference between a musician who taps out after a 3 minute radio edit and one who does a 7 minute opus and still leaves you wanting more. And as Missy Elliot says, “I don’t need no minute man.”

1.The rhythm backs off and melds with the bass. It has just enough edge during riff to remind you it’s still there.
2. Lead 1 has the wind through a pipe sound again. It’s moving slow and holding on to each note. The notes seem to get more intense the longer they are held.
3. The jangly guitar does some slow arpeggios.
4. The bass really shines here because you realize how much it’s doing to hold everything together. It stays low in the riff.
5. The drums here are so mellow they almost sound like the drums off of “Monterey (Lounge Version).
6. You can hear the keyboards most during this part of the song. Everything else recedes enough that the keyboard notes pierce through.

4:34 – 4:47
You don’t realize how much you needed this reprieve right now in the song. It gives you just enough time to catch your breath. You can feel everything that’s happened in the song so far catching up with you.

1.The rhythm follows along with the jangly guitar now, only joining the bass on the riff.
2. Lead 1 repeats the same notes as the previous section, but it is softer now.
3. The jangly guitar is still doing slow arpeggios.
4. The bass is still holding everything together and stays low in the riff.
5. The drums stay quiet. Those cymbal hits are a nice touch and add a little spice to this section.
6. The keyboards are still hitting some high notes just around the edges of the song.

4:47 – 5:00
It should be noted that even though this is the quiet part of the song, my song analyzer still shows this full sound across the spectrum.

1.Don’t you just hear that low E string of the Emin in the beginning just buzz deep in your soul? The rhythm picks up the intensity just a little bit in this section, becoming more prominent during the riff. It begins to alternate things subtly in the background. On the first measure, it hits a note on the fourth beat. The next measure, it hits on the half note. It’s trying to get you off balance again.
2. Now we hear the counterpoint to what the lead played in the previous 2 sections. It rides feedback over the riff and slides down the string on the half note of the fourth beat of the measure.
3. The jangly guitar goes along with the rhythm and is becoming more prominent in the mix. It’s starting to ramp up.
4. The bass stays low in the riff.
5. The drums start mixing up a little, adding 8th note accents.
6. The keyboard is still doing high notes, now at times blending in with Lead 1.

5:00 – 5:13
The intensity is building back up. Because we’ve had this brief reprieve, you are now ready to hear what this song is about to do to you next.

1.The rhythm moves in and out with the jangly guitar. It lets itself be heard during the riff.
2. Lead 1 goes back to the same riff it has done multiple times already. This time there is a longing to the way the notes are played. Something is ending here. Can I just take a moment to say how wonderful those stray notes are during the riff on the first beat and the half note of the third beat? It is the perfect transition to what comes next.
3. Lead 2 hits on the on half notes to counter Lead 1 and the bass. There’s a couple of scratch chords at 5:03. It hits some high feedback at 5:05, briefly melding with Lead 1. It rides some low feedback during the riff.
4. The bass goes up an octave during the riff. The reprieve is ending.
5. The drums hit alternating accents on the beats and on half notes during the riff.
6. The keyboard keeps hitting high notes, adding to what Lead 1 is doing.

5:13 – 5:27
The reprieve is done. We are back at it again.

1.The rhythm section keeps hitting on the half note of the fourth beat of each measure. Again we see this trick of hitting the half note before the next measure as a way to build up intensity and keep you off balance while you are distracted by the lead.
2. High and low and higher and low. It’s not the notes you are expecting to hear from a lead part. There’s dissonance. There’s some quick, alternating notes during the first 3 beats of the riff. On the fourth beat, there’s a short slide down followed by a slide up.
3. Lead 2 plays some mid-range notes, hitting on the half note of the fourth beat with the rhythm section.
4. You know now that the bass is going up an octave during the riff, right?
5. There’s a cymbal crash on the half note of the fourth beat for the first 3 measures. During the riff, there’s cymbal crashes and the beats and half notes through the third beat, then drums only on the fourth beat.
6. The keyboards actually play the notes that Lead 1 normally plays. It’s interesting that it does this since Lead 1 is doing something unique during this section.

5:27 – 5:40
Are you ready now? You better be.

1.Rhythm 1 is back in all it’s distorted glory and it holds the chord progression here. It is still hitting on the half note of the fourth beat of each measure.
2. Lead 1 starts playing the riff you expect but with some changes. It holds that that first note for a long time. It adds extra notes during the second measure. It does 6 string slides over the rhythm riff ending in 16th notes on the fourth beat.
3. Lead 2 is hitting chords in this section.
4. The bass gets unpredictable here. Everything seems like normal in the first measure. It runs up the fret board in the second measure. During the riff, it plays the first 2 beats like normal but does string slides over the end of the riff. The bass’ slides begin where Lead 1’s slides end.
5. The drums do a fill in the second measure and alternates the pattern during the riff.
6. The keyboard plays the line that Lead 1 usually plays but with some changes. It goes sharp during the second measure and flat during the riff.

5:40 – 5:53
Because this song is ready for you.

1.Rhythm 1 hold the chord progression.
2. Lead 1 goes all over the place during the first 2 measures. There’s actually this cool blues moment in the second measure. You don’t hear anything you would expect to hear from the lead until the third measure, but it doesn’t stay here long. It hits the same note over the rhythm riff.
3. Lead 2 follows the chord progress of Rhythm 1 but with a string slide at the end of each measure.
4. The bass moves up the fret board during the second measure. It stays low during the riff.
5. The drums back off a bit during the first 3 measures to make room for the string slides of Lead 2. It comes back with strength during the riff.
6. Honestly, I’m not sure what the keyboards are doing anymore. They may be making pulses.

5:53 – 6:07
1. Rhythm 1 holds the chord progression. The rhythm section is still hitting on the half note of the fourth beat of each measure.
2. Lead 1 rides into this section playing the same note it was holding in the last section. It goes to a higher note in the second measure and keeps hitting that note for the rest of this section.
3. Lead 2 finally jumps into the limelight. It does those crazy “wah wah wah wah” noises during the second and third measures. It holds the same note through half of the rhythm riff (which is a dissonant note compared to Lead 1), then does some string slides before hitting some 16th notes on the fourth beat.
4. The bass goes up an octave during the riff.
5. The drums aren’t too flashy here so as to make room for the dueling leads. There are some nice cymbal accents though.
6. Where there ever keyboards on this song? I can’t remember because of all this guitar.

6:07 – 6:20
1. Rhythm 1 still hold the chord progression. It hits each note of the riff even harder than it has before.
2. Lead 1 just keeps hitting that high note over and over for this whole section. Do you hear it buzzing in your head?
3. Lead 2 goes all over the place. You hear a variation of the lead riff in the third measure, but with a string slide and a feedback swell, it’s gone before you can grasp it.
4. The bass follows Rhythm 1 and stays low in the riff.

6;20 – 6:34
The third measure of this song is the part that really gets me, the part where all the divergent parts meet on the same chord. I mean it really gets me.

1.Rhythm 1 is holds the chord progression but it’s louder still. It buzzes like a army of chainsaws during the riff.
2. Lead 1 hold the high note through the second measure. There’s a couple of scratch chords then it joins Rhythm 1 in the third measure.
3. Lead 2 plays a variation of the lead riff in the second measure. It joins the chord progression with everyone else in the third measure. It plays a lower harmony note to complement Lead 1. At the end of the rhythm riff, Lead 2 plays those 2 random transition notes that Lead 1 played in the end of the reprieve section. That’s a queue that things are about to get even more intense. My God, how is it even possible?
4. The bass goes up an octave in the riff.
5. Do you hear the tambourine? Yes, there is a tambourine now. They just keep adding more and more.
6. I think the keyboard is hitting pulses in the background.

6:34 – 6:47
It’s time to get high.

1.Rhythm 1 alone is more sound than most songs get.
2. Lead 1 moves up a note each measure and holds each note until it launches into outer space over the rhythm riff. It comes back to Earth with some string slides in the fourth beat of the riff.
3. Lead 2 hold the same mid-range note for the first three measures. It goes down a note just as Lead 1 launches in to space. It does some string slides with Lead 1 at the end of the rhythm riff.
4. The bass stays low during the riff.
5. We still have tambourines. We get a drum fill in the second measure.
6. I’m pretty sure the keyboard plays a discordant note to the two guitar leads during the rhythm, then drops down to play some lower notes during the string slides.

6:47 – 7:00
1. Rhythm 1 seems to be hitting even harder during the riff.
2. Lead 1 returns to play a variation of the lead riff but with lots of wavering notes. There’s two string slides at the end of the rhythm riff.
3. Lead 2 has retired from the dueling lead business and is back to jangly chords. Some of the chords hit on half notes.
4. The bass goes up an octave during the riff.
5. Tambourines and cymbals, man.

7:00 – 7:15
The tempo slows on the last riff of the song.

1.Rhythm 1 holds the chord progression one last time.
2. Lead 1 plays what almost sounds like some blues riffs until it moves up to one last, tortured high note over the riff.
3. Jangly chords fill the space between the beats.
4. The bass stays low during the riff.
5. Tambourines right to the end. The drums are particularly powerful during this last, slowed down riff.

7:15 – 7:42
Everything converges on this last Emin chord. Feedback swells from every direction. It isn’t until about 7:22 that the amount of sound starts to decrease to a normal level. At 7:33, we get that weird, scratchy feedback that will lead us into the next day’s song.

And there we have it. I wanted to do this review this way because I feel that I don’t describe the music or the sound well enough in these reviews. So I picked the SF59 with the most sound of any of them to do this. It’s kinda like if you are the new kid in school and you want the bullies to leave you alone, you take on the toughest bully of them all. And this song is the toughest of all the SF59 songs because it is too much.

But I don’t want to end this by describing this song as a bully because the other reason I did this is because I love this song. And like any lover whose worth it, it made me work for it. I’ve been at this for days now.

I want to close out by saying something about being too much. This song is gratuitous. It’s overblown. And that is exactly why I love it. Last week I was sharing a cigarette with a homeless guy named Michael outside the venue before a Pedro the Lion show. He looks at me and says, “I’m gonna tell you something my mama always used to tell me. You don’t have 5 talents. You don’t even have 10 talents. You have 80 talents and don’t you ever forget it.”

This song has 80 talents and I’m an 80 talent girl. Why would I waste my energy on 10 talent songs? I thought a lot about this 80 talent business as I was writing this. Doubt has a way of creeping in when you are being too much. Am I using the right musical terminology? What if that keyboard isn’t really a keyboard but some weird guitar effect? Why would anyone want to read all of this? Am I even pointing out anything new to anyone? I mean, shit, sf59 fans listen to this stuff on high end stereos and vinyl. I’m over here streaming my mid-quality mp3 over Bluetooth into my hearing impaired ears. All this is probably old news to everybody.

That fear is the side effect of being too much. It happens when you know that you’re extra in a world that is satisfied with the mundane. But there’s always an audience out there for those willing to be too much. Just like this gloriously excessive song has a home in my heart, so too will all your glorious excesses of character find a home somewhere. Just put it out there and watch where it goes.

So, am I ready to let go of this song yet? Hmmmm. I already feel like doing it again, honey.