Tractor Rape Chain

From Bee Thousand, 1994

I still don't get the appeal of Hot Freaks. But you know what I do get the appeal of? Tractor Rape Chain.

I think this song is probably one Echos Myron and one I am a Scientist from being unquestionably, UNQUESTIONABLY the best song on Bee Thousand. And Bee Thousand is good. Being the third best song (or better) on an album like Bee Thousand speaks to a staggering amount of quality. This song is absolutely top shelf.

Now

Let's go over what this song has going for it. Ok, structure wise, there is some thought put into this one. It begins with the acoustic guitar playing a charming little riff in a warm setting. You can hear the fingers moving up and down the frets, you can hear what is clearly a screen door closing. You can hear Bob say, "Come in." I can imagine the exact kind of summer day this was recorded on and the exact kind of kitchen or back deck it was recorded in, maybe on a handheld tape recorder and maybe spliced in later.

This intro ends abruptly, and intentionally so, and we're in a studio (of sorts) with a full band. The contrast here probably does little more than give the song more weight when it breaks open, but it works, specifically because this song comes after Buzzards and Dreadful Crows, which ends with a full tilt rock barrage. The intro serves not only to make a little space but also to ensure the song stands out. Of note is that the song that follows Tractor Rape Chain is the sleepy, minimal Goldheart Mountain Top Queen Directory. The meat of this song is an island.

The electric guitar that breaks in is playing variations on an A chord while the bass drones over and over and drums keep it steady. The riff is neat, doing a lot with a little, and the drums carry plenty of cymbal noise, laying a blanket of white noise hiss over the whole thing that holds it together like icing on a cake.

When the vocal line comes in, again, Pollard does a lot with a little. Though the music is based around one note, the vocal line moves around a lot with a few bends. It's anything but a drone.

When the chorus comes in though, what a jump! The vocals leap up at least a fifth, soaring with big open notes. The drums change here too, the ride cymbal gives way to a high hat and the white noise from the verses is now gone. It's like a moment of clarity in the middle of the song, again an island. That's not even mentioning the rhythm between the kick and snare in this part, which is just neat.

In the second verse, they switch it up a little bit, which is kind of rare for them. The drums are now doing a neat little tripple kick drum thing that kind of trips over itself. When Pollard gets to the line "It's a thing, I know it's a think I believe in," it sounds like he starts to say he knows but then starts over, saying it with twice as much conviction, the vocals again making a huge leap. That's followed with the whole band bringing it down before building on the beat, to go back into the chorus, which soars like the first one. The song ends with Bob repeating the end of the chorus multiple times, repeating double syllable phrases before resolving at the end of the melody line "Speed/up-Slow/down-Go/All-a/round- in the end." The end of this melody line is the lowest note sung in the song. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but it makes a nice counter point to the mile high verses.

Unlike most GBV lyrics, which don't lend themselves to any kind of interpretation, this is actually one of Pollards most straight forward, other than the title phrase itself. It's in the tradtion of songs about broken relationships that are addressed to "you." The parellel lines on the slow decline are Bob and whoever the song is about. Maybe his ex wife? Who knows? The specifics don't really matter that much. Who hasn't been the first one in a relationship to realize that the whole things gone pear shaped?

One of my favorite songs of all time and in my top ten GBV songs in a walk, maybe top five.

A+

Favorite Lyric: There's a ghost in my room and he says I better run. It's a thing i know - it's a thing i believe in. Won't you tell it to go away?