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This was only behind Defeat for me with the boots, then followed by OG Cherokee. I never felt there was a lot to it but that melody hit so hard, felt like a real deep dirge, a torch song for someone long gone, and I loved it. The xylophone (type) melody that followed the vocal felt rather on the nose but it was just such a good tune that it worked. It was awesome on every boot, and was one of the only songs I actually caned on its own. I kind of listened to the rest of the set but took me a long time to get a handle on most of the songs outside the three I mentioned.
Then they brought it back in '21 and they inverted the verse melody phrasing and I was despondent. They have a real habit of accentuating the less impactful harmonies, neutering the higher register stuff they perform live. Even My Girls ended up being much less soulful and emotive than the earlier versions, as great as it nevertheless turned out. This wasn't just a harmony pushed to the background, though. This was the actual melody, the strongest, most fundamental part of an otherwise fairly sparse song. I hoped it was just some experimentation for the sake of it, a live Floridada type of thing, an exploration of the song's possibilities.
No.
I will almost never pretend to enjoy anything or dupe myself because I feel it's disrespectful, not least to myself. If any kid gives me a cookie they baked and it's not good, I will say thank you but I can't eat any more because of the taste, that is a very poor effort kid.
So I was ready to say Passer-by was a stinker. Randall Peltzer pranked me good with his insta story cutting out just before the end of the first line so I didn't know if it is the old or new melody. You'll love it, he said. In hindsight, that was a real gamble. Nevertheless, the guy is right.
The inverted verse melody (BABA instead of ABAB) changes the tone a little, it changes the ebb and flow of the song emotionally. What once began as a sigh and then looked up in hope is now reversed. Not only does the melody resolve on a more downbeat phrase, the opening ascending melody sounds less hopeful than a little desperate. Some of those lines end almost in a whimper. Overall, it sounds emotionally exhausted but also erotic and brooding to me. Like when you feel really shit, hungover, heartbroken and all you want is a good cathartic fuck and to cry it all out. I don't mean to be crass but that heartbroken burning feeling of sexual release is intense. I don't know what the song is really about but that's the feeling I get from it.
I also love the little descending guitar line in the right speaker every other stanza, alternating with the dubby synth wub wub wubbb in the left speaker. It seems instrumentally much more richer, lots going on beyond the xylophone type melody which takes more of a back seat, albeit more in the line with the original vocal melody, too! It's still in there but it's suggested rather than repeated explicitly. I also love that gong/layered crash that comes in with the burning sun and a couple of times after that. Wonderful blissed out, dubby accent.
This is my highlight of the record so far.
Feel free to disagree, I am indefatigably in love with this song right now.
