Germeroth 1
Robert J. Germeroth
Professor Rodgers
WLC 101
27 March 2020
The Quarantine Drags On and On and On: Reflections on Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky Since the dawn of time, all creatures have loved music (Tolkien 15-20). From the angels to the angelfish, not a critter on earth can resist the urge to tap their feet to the rhythm of the beat
(Miller). This is no less true for human beings: ever since our cavemen ancestors sang the opening lines of “Hooked on a Feeling,” the human race has been “hooked” on the feelings that music generates in our soles. But for Homo sapien, music also has the mysterious power to speak above and beyond our feet—right into our kidneys, where the soul resides (Eknoyan 3464). Just ask a lovesick teen how he feels after listening to James Blunt, and the veracity of this veraciousness will be as clear as a sky blue sky.
Of course, there is both a universality and a personal-ality to the music we hear: whereas one listener of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Bring Da Ruckus” may hear the centrality of indigence in black identity (Touré), and another only hears offensive swears, neither can deny that the track slaps. The music we hear speaks in two languages at once—in Esperanto, “everyone’s second language” (Smith), and in Norpsplindtöng, the language you made up just for yourself in grade three (R. Germeroth vii). Nowhere is this fusion of universal and personal more evident than in
American rock band Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky. The 2007 album, which frontman Jeff Tweedy calls “a fairly typical recovery-themed record” (255), will strike a personal chord with listeners who have gone through similar addiction struggles. But even those who haven’t can still empathize Germeroth 2 with the dissonant motives in Tweedy’s “impulsive need to be heard and … desire to avoid any outright detection of that wish” (254-255). In Sky Blue Sky, we hear these opposite wants interact as Tweedy’s candid, straightforward vocals mingle with an instrumentation that was crafted “by committee” via group arrangements recorded live in the studio (254). And while some critics called the result “the stylistic equivalent of a wardrobe change into sweatpants and a tank top”
(Mitchum), this reviewer is “dazzled by the way those sweatpants look like regular pants you can wear in public and no one will really notice unless they look up close; otherwise they look like pretty nice business casual trousers and they have a very flattering fit too” (R.J. Germeroth 2).
In “Either Way,” the album opens with a softly picked guitar reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s
“Blowin' in the Wind” (Sheffield). But where Dylan administers his song with voice and guitar alone, Tweedy quickly welcomes his bandmates in an entrance that whomps you in the face—with the softest of pillows. The bass and drums establish a casually spirited groove, while a second guitar and a droning organ reinforce the softness and simplicity of the song. It is a small, pleasant surprise, as if you are roller skating along a paved country lane when a sudden downslope quickens your pace—not too fast, just enough to lighten your efforts and send a welcome breeze through your rattail. As the song continues, Tweedy sings about “maybes” of varying significance—of the weather, fear, and a tenuous love. However, the uncertainty in these
“maybes” are all lyrically treated with the same sense of composure: “Maybe you still love me /
Maybe you don't / Either you will or you won't.”1 Tweedy himself said the song “is basically a rewording of the Serenity Prayer” (255), which asks for God to give “grace to accept with serenity / the things that cannot be changed” (“Serenity Prayer”). As the song progresses, the
1 All quotes from songs on Sky Blue Sky are cited from Wilco’s website, accessed at wilcoworld.net/music/sky-blue-sky/. Germeroth 3 band gradually crescendos to affirm this leisurely confidence in “either way,” which blossoms beautifully in Nels Cline’s floating guitar solo. When the song was initially released, some critics disparaged the solo, calling it a “really, really terrible … Pat Metheny clone grooving to the
Weather Channel” that is “straight-up Local on the 8s” (Sheffield; Mitchum). Perhaps the passage of time heals the contemporarily corny, for a listen thirteen years later has one pining for the age when you could check the weather without being assaulted by ads for “Arthozene, the new knee aid going viral” (The Weather Channel). If Cline’s solo were indeed Local on the 8s muzak, the accompanying forecast would call for a beautiful autumn day, warm and bright, inspiring pajamed viewers to imagine a day’s worth of lovely jaunts. But before jumping from pjs to pantalones, the band scales it back for a bit more reflection. The “maybes” are still there.
Things could still go either way. As the song closes, we’re reminded that this uncertainty is inevitable, and it is okay.
Then there are some more songs, and they’re pretty good too. Highlights include: the spooky guitar interlude in “You Are My Face,” which I wasn’t sure about at first, but it’s grown on me (especially as it hits into the heavier/distorted part with the tom groove backing it up); the guitar solo in “Impossible Germany,” especially the feel change at 4:08 when the tambourine comes in; and the instrumental build at 1:30 in “Side with the Seeds” (along with its kindred ending). I could keep going on and on and on, but let’s not get carried away.2
2 Ron Howard: “It already did.” Germeroth 4
Works Cited
Eknoyan, Garabed. “The Kidneys in the Bible: What Happened?” Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, vol. 16, no. 12, 2005, pp. 3464–3471., doi:10.1681/asn.2005091007.
Germeroth, Robby. Norpsplindtöng: A Sweet New Way to Talk. Booky Boys Inc., 1998. Germeroth, Robert J. “The Quarantine Drags On and On and On: Reflections on Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky.” Detroit, 2020. Miller, George, director. Happy Feet. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2006. Mitchum, Rob. “Wilco: Sky Blue Sky.” Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 14 May 2007, pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10219-sky-blue-sky/.
“Serenity Prayer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer.
Sheffield, Rob. “Sky Blue Sky.” Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/sky-blue-sky-249681/.
“Sky Blue Sky.” Wilco, 2007, wilcoworld.net/music/sky-blue-sky/. Smith, Chuck. “Various Esperanto Slogans around the World.” Transparent.com Blogs, Transparent Language, 26 Dec. 2011,
blogs.transparent.com/esperanto/various-esperanto-slogans-around-the-world/.
Tolkien, J. R. R., and Christopher Tolkien. The Silmarillion. HarperCollins, 1992. Touré. “Wu-Tang Clan.” Wu-Tang Clan: Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) : Music Reviews : Germeroth 5
Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 1994, web.archive.org/web/20071002111310/www.rollingstone.com/artists/wutangclan/albums
/album/129082/review/6209929/enter_the_wutang_36_chambers.
Tweedy, Jeff. Let's Go - So We Can Get Back: a Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc. Dutton, 2019. The Weather Channel. “National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and
Information from The Weather Channel and Weather.com.” The Weather Channel, The Weather Channel, 27 Mar. 2020, weather.com/.