Whisper Down The Tube

Spoon “Do I Have To Talk You Into It?”

Spoon is the rare type of band whose style is essentially a sub-genre of their own making, with its own set of formal rules and quirks particular to their musical strengths. Spoon songs fall on a continuum of them stepping outside of their comfort zone while retaining their character – the new sax-based instrumental “Us,” for example – to adapting a familiar song type to their style – “I Summon You,” “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” – to a song like “Do I Have To Talk You Into It,” which is pure, unfiltered Spoon aesthetics. You get Jim Eno’s in-the-pocket yet slightly off-kilter drums; Britt Daniel’s soulful yet playful rasp hovering around the beat; the distinctly dry direct-input tone of the piano setting on an electric keyboard; miscellaneous odd sounds that float through the mix but never occupy the big chunk of negative space at the core of the track. This one’s got it all, folks. It’s Spoon as fuck.

The interesting thing here is that this extremely Spoon-ish song seems to be about Spoon. Britt’s lyrics seem to be about some romantic or sexual relationship on the surface, but a closer read – paired with some basic knowledge of the guy’s biography – suggests that this is actually about his long collaboration with Jim. (Here’s another clue for you all: there’s a verse about someone named Jimmy, and the walrus was Paul.) So it’s funny that the song on the new record that sounds the most like Britt in dialogue with Jim’s drumming on a musical level may also be that on a lyrical level too, with him reflecting on their personal dynamic and dealing with the frustrations of any long term partnership.

There’s also an intriguing aside about the downside of being in a long-running successful band, i.e., people moving on to some other hot new thing: “When the mood of the era’s gone / everybody’s fading me, even my ma!” This explains a lot of Britt’s restless feeling, but the sense of “eh, who cares, let’s just keep doing our thing” sentiment in this song is stronger.

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