37. The Shy Retirer

Song:  "The Shy Retirer"
Artist:  Arab Strap
Album:  Monday at the Hug & Pint
Year: 2003
Length: 4:21
Label:  Matador Records
Album Rating:  8.7 (out of 10) in Pitchfork

• Download Arab Strap - "The Shy Retirer".mp3

This was my favorite song of 2003, an aural blast of rollicking rhythms and lascivious lyrics, that has somewhat surprisingly held up incredibly well.  I still love the track, and I still think the best line I've heard since 2003 is embedded in the music.  See if you can find it (hint: the "c" word is involved).  #37 greatest song of all time.

Another bloated disco, another sniff of romance I'll forget
We promised to ourselves before we came out, we'd do something we regret
These people are your friends
This cunted circus never ends
I won't remember anything you say

I lost my social skills a while ago but now I feel them coming back
My eyes were rolling when we met and now they are preparing for attack
I want to fall in love tonight and form the perfect unbreakable bond
You can be my teenage Jenny Agatter, swimming naked in a pond
You know I'm always moanin'
But you jumpstart my seratonin
How d'you know you've ever really loved?

But when i feel like this, I know it doesn't matter
When i eat when I'm not hungry, I'm sure I feel my face get fatter
Then I thin out every weekend and I think that she might want me
But I always slip off my own 'cause...

I let those feelings haunt me, they control me, but tonight I'm letting go
You're more than just a photo album, you're more than what some people let you know
And if we ever make it home, I'll tell you all the things that shaped me thus;
Something forged in a phonebox but lost in a restaurant we've got so much to discuss
Here, have you tried the blue ones?
I hear he's got some new ones
Sleep is not an option tonight

Look at us just stand and stare
Look at them just pose and pout
And we'll all be standing here
Until the pigs chuck us out

Comments

[F Lenny]

I did indeed fall in love with the song!

[F Lenny]

I did indeed fall in love with the song!

[F Lenny]

I did indeed fall in love with the song!

[F Lenny]

I did indeed fall in love with the song!

[F Lenny]

I did indeed fall in love with the song!

[Bill]

Relax, LegFu.