Twentieth Century Apprenticeship: Online Liner Notes
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Mr. Wadlinger's song-by-song thoughts on the EP:
1) Throwing Bottles:
This is in a minor key, which is kinda different for
me. I was sitting around one night thinking about
this time I saw the New Bomb Turks and Chavez
at the old Grog Shop in Cleveland. Bottles were
thrown. People say a lot of stuff when they're
drunk -- I guess it's interesting that, in a sense, the
state of drunkeness is a form of mental paralysis,
yet it's also a state in which your inhibitions tend to
be released. Anyway, that's a lot to write about a
song that's less than 90 seconds long.
2) Please Be Careful
An older song that I recently rerecorded and
decide to include on the EP. On the Next Best
Records Blog, Ian Wying claimed this is about a
time I took a date to Steak n Shake, but I can't
ever remember taking a date to Steak n Shake.
Maybe when I lived in Stow. That's the kind of
thing you do for a night out when you live in Stow.
3) Written With Ink (Version Two)
As you can tell from the title, this is the second version of the song. I guess this song is about another kind of paralysis --
a kind of emotional paralysis. You know, like hesitation, confusion, gravity. Really, maybe that's the overriding theme of
these songs: paralysis in varying degrees. I guess that's the Joyce scholar in me.
4) Powder Puff Blues
This is an even older song than "Please Be Careful." I think it was written in '98 or '99 and recorded back in the
basement in Hudson. I kind of like the sound of it -- me and the guitar. You also get a kind of cool effect from the heater,
which is running in the background and gives the recording a kind of comforting feeling. That's why I like recording
everything myself -- everywhere you record, you get a unique sound and a sense of character that you don't get in a
formal, studio setting.
5) Nightlight
I guess this is the centerpiece of the EP, which maybe doesn't make sense because it's the last song. I always give my
sister a hard time about her music taste, which is not so good, in my opinion. Probably growing up in the room next to the
one with the stereo playing Pere Ubu and Sonic Youth all the time caused her to rebel against me. Anyway, long ago we
signed a truce where she gets to listen to whatever she wants whenever I happen to be in the car with her. She was
giving me a ride to the airport one time, and playing Billy Joel and I think the O.C. Soundtrack. I guess Spoon and the
Black Keys were on the O.C., but I think they're the exception rather than the rule. Needless to say, I didn't like Billy Joel
or the O.C. Soundtrack, and it got me to thinking about Ohio (where I was flying back to), Peter Laughner, and the origins
of objective truth. Anything to keep my mind off of Billy Joel. I wrote this song soon after. I suppose it's my rebellion to my
sister's rebellion to my rebellion.
