Who is this guy?
I can't listen to music on my commute these days. If I wore earbuds on the Metro or walking from the train to work, I'd miss my stop or step in front of a bus, respectively. Meghan is better about stuff like this. She rides her bike to her job, and she listens to podcasts along the way. I root for the buses to avoid her! She finds good stuff on the podcasts.
Example: David Carr does a review on the Times Book Review podcast and brings up Gaslight Anthem lead Brian Fallon's June NPR interview.
The mp3 is here, and Carr starts talking at the 18:30 mark in true Carr style: "The prissy NPR person said, 'You write about this guy he's got tattoos on his knuckles, he's a hard luck guy. He never gets what he wants.' She says, 'Who is this guy?' And he answered, 'Who isn't this guy?' That's part of what I think people all secretly feel, that maybe they've got some little monster creeping around in 'em."
Love it. And even if Carr thinks our interviewer was prissy, thank you for listening. Anyway. Meghan sending me that moment got me curious about the rest of the Fallon interview. Turns out you can hear it here and read it here. Fallon talks with All Things Considered's Melissa Block.
BLOCK: I wanted to ask you about the song "Boxer" and the character here, the character who has tattooed knuckles, and he's taking it on the chin. Who is this guy?
Mr. FALLON: Oh, who isn't that guy? I think that it's just about a lot of people that I've seen who've kind of, you know, found some sort of thing that has kind of crippled them or knocked them down and that they've had to be picked up from and find you have to find something that kind of carries you through your days. And a lot of the time, people find that that's just hearing something on the music and remembering what you started when you were, you know, kind of finding your place in the world.
Then Block plays a clip of the song. This live version will do here.
Then the interview continues.
BLOCK: Do you think there's some redemption in this song?
Mr. FALLON: It has redemption in every song.
BLOCK: Really?
Mr. FALLON: Yeah.
BLOCK: What happens if there's not?
Mr. FALLON: I don't know. We'll see. You know, that's the endless search, I think, for musicians and for searchers in general, those people who are looking for something.
August 4th, 2010 at 9:40 AM
A single earbud comes out on the Capital Crescent Trail. If a bus ever leaves the road to take the scenic route, I'm in trouble. (But at least the music will be good at the end?)