Remember Talking 'Bout Remembering

Album: fIREHOSE, "if'n", 1987

Best Track: "Sometimes" (This was a tough call.)

Lasting Memory: I can still picture perfectly in my mind's eye the first time I heard the first song on the second side of this album. I was laying in bed and playing "if'n" on my combination alarm clock-tape player and thinking "For the Singer of REM" was just about the funniest and most musically blasphemous thing I had ever heard. Which I also thought at the time was truly saying something, coming as it was from a devoted fan of Dr. Demento.

I no longer think "For the Singer of REM" is all that transgressive, but 21 years ago, it was tough for me to wrap my mind around the concept of anyone criticizing R.E.M. in any way even if I could understand why this verse made sense:

Now you object to objects meaning more
Than some pathetic, lame aesthetic
Stolling Rone is famous for
Grab a firehose
Point it at the door
Get it all wet
Remember
Forget what rock 'n' roll is for

According to the members of fIREHOSE, rock 'n' roll was for rocking and, mostly, having fun. This makes eminent sense when it is kept in mind that the bassist and drummer for fIREHOSE were originally members of The Minutemen.

This legacy shines through most clearly on the song "Me & You Remembering":

Remember?
Me, at first, couldn't remember
Me & you talking, remember?
'Bout dick hell, remember?

Remember?
Remember me & you talking 'bout the time I couldn't remember
remembering?
Remember talking 'bout remembering 'bout dick hell, remember?
You remember,
I want to ... I do!

But now it's just you an me
Singing songs,
Singing 'bout ...
Madonna!?

We've all had conversation like that.

We've also all had the daydream-slash-waking-reality captured in the bittersweet--and available for download from CMT.com!--"Sometimes," whose first two verses and chorus run

Like a locomotive wheel
Feelings feel the real
Hearts are just bound to break

I'm off and on my way,
Rolling night and day--
highway been calling my name!

[Chorus]
Although sometines
(Almost always)
You know sometimes:
I reamain

A surprisingly complete downloadable fIREHOSE discographys can be found on Rhapsody, so I spare you all the rest of the direct links, but other standout songs on "if'n" include "Honey, Please," "Anger," and "In Memory of Elizabeth Cotton." Check 'em out. You won't be disppointed.

Up Next: fIREHOSE, "fROMOHIO", 1989