‘Mr E’s Beautiful Blues’ – The Eels, 2000
First single off the third studio album Daisies of the Galaxies by the American Band The Eels who is fronted by the eccentric Mark Oliver Everett otherwise known as E. Strnagely enough this track is not even listed as a track on the album but is a bonus track at the end of the album although not that strange if you follow The Eels. The album itself is pretty decent and more upbeat than the previous two albums from the Band with guest appearances by Peter Buck and Grant Lee Buffalo.
What I like about this song is the strong, catchy melody in the music more akin to a pop tune than an Eels tune coupled with an equally catchy chorus of “God damn right it’s a beautiful day” kinda forces you into liking this song whether you want to or not. If you exclude the verses from the song and just listen to the chorus, its a very light-hearted and upbeat song that makes you sing a long as you hadn’t a care in the world and nothing will worry you.
Now heres the kicker…If you listen to the verses they are all sung with the same catchy melody but the verses themselves speak of some dark , unhumurous events that happen in everyday life. Take for example the following lines from the song “The girl with the curls and the sweet big ribbon in her hair
She’s crawled out the window ’cause her daddy just don’t care” which is really sad as the girl want’s to escape as she doesn’t feel loved. Another example are the lines “The clown with the frown driving down to the sidewalk fair Finger on the trigger I tell you he is quite a scare” which evoke images of a depressed clown that is about to go on a shooting spree. Nothing happy at all in any of those lines.
The above are just to examples of the dark images conveyed in the lyrics of the song. If you want to hear more then I strongly urge you to check out the video of the song here. It’s a realy interesting song when you listen to the lyrics and then the overall feel of the song – its a complete dichotomy.
