It’s Day 12 of a Goddamn New Year

Happy Day 12 to all! I’ve tried to mark this day in some way (well, OK, usually only in my head) ever since the San Francisco Seals’ great Nowhere, with this song on it, came out back in the mid-1990s.

• The San Francisco Seals, “Day 12” (buy Nowhere, aka Now Here, virtually here)

Lyric-wise, this one might seem like just some light riffing on a clever little dates/calendar motif. But I like the way the very motif seems to transcend itself – what it really suggests is a desperate wish that the singer’s anguish could be marked & measured by a simple number. When really it bleeds outside the lines, a dark spreading stain over time’s march and everything else.

All of which is even kind of mirrored in the music. It’s an urgent song but also a strangely tidy one, with the drums and then the loud guitars and then the instrumental freakout all showing up in good order, promptly & politely. But the finish is messier, contrary.

I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but the SF Seals were a vehicle for the amazing Barbara Manning. Her infrequently updated site is here.