The Weakerthans are another band, like The Mountain Goats and Neutral Milk Hotel, that I discovered from listening to WRUW; the college radio station at Case Western Reserve University. They hail from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and are fronted by singer-songwriter and poet laureate of The Great White North, John K. Samson. Ok, he's not actually the poet laureate, but he should be. Few bands have more literate lyrics than The Weakerthans. Their style ranges from punk pop to pedal steel tinged country to sparse ballads to indie rock. Samson's vocals sound like a combination of the Schoolhouse Rock guy and the singer from Treblecharger. So...pretty good. I titled this post as an examination of their 2000 album, Left and Leaving, but it will cover their whole catalog, plus some solo stuff, because it's all equally great. I think Samson's world view is best understood in the song "Longitudinal Centre" from his solo album Provincial. "The Atlantic and Pacific are the very same, far away". Winnipeg is the isolated, landlocked centre (center) of Canada. Isolation is a dominant theme in The Weakerthans discography. Only Samson could write "Plea From a Cat Named Virtute", a song from the perspective of a cat whose owner is depressingly alone and sedentary. I especially like the outro, "All you ever want to do is drink and watch tv and frankly that thing doesn't really interest me. I swear I'm going to bite you hard and taste your tinny blood if you don't stop the self-defeating lies you've been repeating since the day you brought me home. I know you're strong".
Gun to my head, Left and Leaving is probably their best album. My favorite track is "Aside". I am tempted to post the entire lyrics, but there's a lot. So here's a sample that I really relate to, "Terrified of telephones and shopping malls and knives. We're drowning in the pools of other lives. Rely a bit too heavily on alcohol and irony. Get clobbered on by courtesy. In love with love and lousy poetry". The track "Watermark" is a bittersweet track about a relationship, "I've got this store-bought way of saying I'm okay. And you learned to cry in total silence. We're talented and bright, we're lonely and uptight, we've found some lovely ways to disappoint". Another great track is "This is a Fire Door, Never Leave Open". "I still hear trains at night when the wind is right. I remember everything. Lick and thread this string that will never mend you or or tailor more than a memory of a kitchen floor. Or the fire door that we kept propping open".
Much like Franz Kafka and Prague, John K. Samson can never seem to escape Winnipeg. The title track to Left and Leaving begins, "My city's still beathing, it's true, but barely, through buildings gone missing like teeth. The sidewalks are watching me think about you, sparkled with broken glass". The song "My Favorite Chords" begins, "They're tearing up streets again, they're building a new hotel. The mayor's out killing kids to keep taxes down". Perhaps, The Weakerthans best known song is their homage to Winnipeg, "One Great City" from their album Reconstruction Site. Apparently, the title came from the billboard when you enter Winnipeg that proclaimed it "One Great City". It's a love-hate song with the refrain "I hate Winnipeg". "The Guess Who sucked, the Jets were lousy anyway". Ironically, they recorded a show at the Burton Cummings Theatre. Of course, Samson doesn't hate Winnipeg, but some days it's a thin line.
So, to wrap up this post before it gets too long. let me list some of my favorite Weakerthan songs that I couldn't squeeze in here. Maybe I will revisit them in the future. Wellington Wednesdays. Diagnosis. The Last Last One. Anchorless. The Reasons. Reconstruction Site. Psalm For the Elk's Lodge Last Call. Our Retired Explorer. A New Name For Everything. Tournament of Hearts. Sun in an Empty Room.
I would like to close with a another section from "Longitudinal Centre" that may be Samson's finest bit of songwriting. "So the sun pulls me out a bit and lets me go. I'm a vacuum power chord in the back of a van full of kids cleaning carpets for the Lord. And I make a list of sounds I found have comforted us in the past; the roar of the rumble strips and the Mennonite meter of the flood forecast. Oh how the wind strums on those signs that say the Atlantic and Pacific are the very same, far away". Peace.
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