Music of the Day, 2 December 2024
gotta love the pain
I’ve previously mentioned that I’ve never been a big fan of the harmonica. Not sure why, really. I have a vague childhood memory of trying to play one once and discovering it was much more difficult than I’d expected, so maybe it’s a long-held grudge.
Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise this morning to have the name of a big ‘90s band that featured the harmonica pop in to my mind. Given that their sound also tended toward country, they had two strikes against them in my book. I bought the disc that had their breakout single and—as is typical for me—found that I liked its deep cuts better than the singles I heard on the radio.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve listened to four, Blues Traveler’s 1994 breakthrough album. As soon as I opened its folder in my music library, I knew which song I wanted to hear. “The Mountains Win Again” isn’t exactly a story song, but it’s close; and its metaphor for the difficulties relationships inevitably face was fresh for me. I’m not sure I fully appreciated it back then, though. Both the music and lyrics are deeper than I remember.
The band’s late bassist Bobby Sheehan wrote the song and gave himself a nice bass line that I wish was a bit more prominent in the mix. Other personnel on the track are: Brendan Hill on drums; Chan Kinchla on guitars; John Popper on harmonica and lead vocals; and guest Warren Haynes on slide guitar. Everything is clean and tight, and still grabs at my heart the way the song used to.
Today I discovered that “Mountains” was released in 1995 as the third single from four. I have no memory of hearing it on the radio and thus was surprised to see that the song has a music video. It’s interesting but distracts me from the moving lyrics.
While we’re focused on the lyrics, what’s with this one: “Is there a line to write that could make you cry tonight”? It’s the only one that’s a miss for me, and it’s a solid clunker. I’m attributing it to fitting the song’s scansion, as I don’t want to think that Sheehan wasn’t perceptive enough to know that when the mountains of difficulty win in a relationship, it brings both parties pain.
four is the only Blues Traveler album I own, and to my knowledge, I’ve not heard anything else from the band. Learning today that Sheehan died in 1999,1 I don’t know that I want to explore more. Right now, I’m content to have rediscovered “The Mountains Win Again.”
apparently of an accidental drug overdose … more mountains that win much too often
A truly fun band to listen to, at least their early works. Inventive , interesting and catchy tunes.
I had a few of their albums but Four was my favorite. In fact, one of my favorite songs of all time is on that album: “Just Wait” hit me at a challenging time in my life as I was in early recovery from my alcohol and drug addiction. And the message, “there’s no such thing as a failure who keeps trying, coasting you the bottom is the only disgrace” REALLY resonated with me.