Dondante

It's been a long time since a song has made my arm hairs stand up and sway gently. Hearing the song Dondante by My Morning Jacket the other night was, I swear, like hearing Dark Side of the Moon for the first time. The song is epic like Pink Floyd (over seven minutes long) but it's drastically sparse. It's bluesy, the drums are killer and the lyric has something to do with a ghost. Ahhh...songs about ghosts.

I should have prefaced this by mentioning that I was high at the time. More significantly, I was high for the first time in months, which may be where the Dark Side of the Moon comparison comes from. My friend Matt had me over to try and record some songs. We played guitars and ate some pizza, then we took a break and smoked bongs. After one hit I slouched down in his brand new leather lounge chair which basically swallowed me. Matt had the My Morning Jacket performance on Austin City Limits saved on Tivo (It's important to stress that it was a live version of the song because the performance was flawless--not like The Eagles going-through-the-motions flawless, but dazzling like Miles Davis doing My Funny Valentine flawless--and their singer is fucking sick. Jeff Buckley definitely comes to mind.)

The song comes on and it's a heartbeat of just drums and bass. The stage is lit in blue fluorescent lights and you can hear a pin drop in the audience. The singer comes in with a repeating five-note falsetto phrase. The lyric is only partially intelligible but I'm able to make out, "You've never left these streets..." and my spine dissolves into the seat cushions.