All day I had this song in my head from a ska/punk/roots band I used to love to dance to, for hours and hours, for a few years, until they were gone, along with the rest of the awesome b-circuit bands of the period. Though I submit that Roots Roundup was the awesomest. I miss you guys!
I lost this tape (just dated myself, I’m aware) among a box of tapes left at a friend’s place so long ago. He tried to return that box to me over and over, but I can’t remember what ended up happening to it.
Nostalgia is hitting me hard today, as it has frequently this summer, with this song in my head. This recording doesn’t do the song justice. (But vive l’Internet! So glad it’s there.) Live, it was much more up-tempo, loud, and punk. But the recording is worth a listen, because you might have been at one of those shows, and if you were, you will remember how much fun it was.
Dancing to a song about riding your bike! Remember! Just dancing at live shows. Bands whose members enjoyed each other on stage, who understood transitions and kept the music going, who knew time signatures and sang on pitch, who were sexy even when they took their teeth out to play. Who played SETS. Sets! All the band and all the dance floor in unison pogo. Bouncing on the Commodore Ballroom’s bouncy horsehair-padded floors. Irony-free horn sections. Green rooms crowded with stand up basses, kit cases, Shure 58s, and free beer.
Nostalgia. Memory. Unglued. Unbound. So I got a new bike!
Oh, I LOVE the bike! Is that a leather seat?? And leather handlebars? I had never heard of Roots Roundup, but I liked the song. Happy music is good for the soul, eh?
Yep, they are leather, and very comfortable. And the song is a great one to have stuck in my head and giving me lots of happiness, that’s for sure. Funny to realize how much my taste in music has changed over the years, from happy to introspective, ironic, postmodern moody music that I can read by, or just plain jazz. What happened to the happy dance? Not that jazz isn’t happy. Or the other kinds. Are those even genres?? (Rhetorical question. What songs do you think Daisy has stuck in her head when she’s plashing puddles?) Thank you for reading, littlesundog, it is always good for my soul to know you’re around!
I remember that song and dancing to it. It was AWESOME!
I know! I wonder how many shows we were both at back in the day.