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Friday, October 16, 2015

512. The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian

Because I've seen this band live a few times now and this song gets the crowd out of their seats and onto the stage. During this song the stage fills up. The first time I saw them it was about 6 people but the last time it was full. I love stage invasions. Back when Little Murders were riding the wave of power pop/Mod in the early 80s we would always invite the crowd onstage with us much to the chagrin of the lead guitarist who was always trying to keep people from dancing on his pedals. The barrier between artist and audience did not exist.
Because this was also the first Belle and Sebastian song I ever heard. There used to be this TV show called Teachers which starred the guy who plays Rick Grimes in the Walking Dead, Andrew Lincoln. Every episode would start with him riding his bicycle to school while this song played in the background. Loved the show and loved the song. Then it grew from there.
And because Belle & Sebastian remind me so much of the Kinks. Not the rock Kinks. No You Really Got Me or anything like that. Belle don't really rock. No, they remind me of Village Greeen Preservation Society all the way up to Everybody's in Showbiz. The Kinks with a touch of Morrissey maybe. But if I'm going down that route I might of picked "Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying"