Superchunk Song Review Project 10: "Cast Iron"

"The man in the airplane is looking for you!" What does it MEAN? I love how ambiguous these lyrics are...they sound so cool and they're super fun to yell along with in the car. And I think part of their awesometude is that they free you from having to really think about what they're about. Like, when you're blowing down the highway in your car screaming along to, say, "Pervert" by the Descendents you might think "this song rocks!" But you might also think "this song is kind of creepy!" (I skew towards the first interpretation but, you know, maybe you got your sweetie in the car with you when you're belting it out! Of course, maybe your sweetie loves the Descendents so all is well! But maybe not! In that case, here's the answer: get a new sweetie!)

Holy digression! "Cast Iron" is another one of my all time faves. Its got a good slightly above mid-tempo head-nodding beat going on, its got the loud/QUIET/loud dynamic, its got really chunky riffs that are really catchy in their own right, its got some sweet-ass harmonized guitar parts, its got the word "uppity" featured prominently. I mean, it's basically perfect.

But here I want to focus on the key twist in this song, one they wound up using a lot later on in songs and (I think) first shows up here: THE MISSING BEAT. Superchunk mosdef aren't a math rock band, though they dabble in weird time signatures from time to time. And the easiest way to have a weird time signature is to drop a beat out of a riff. And there you have the pre-pre-chorus of "Cast Iron"!!!

DAH DAH DAH, DAH DAH DAH, DAAH DAAH DAAH DAAH;

DAH DAH DAH, DAH DAH DAH, DAAH DAAH DAH!

You can see right there the dropped beat!!! LOOK! Okay, maybe that doesn't make it that clear, but the pre-pre-chorus is basically the verse riff but with the last beat dropped out every other time so it winds up being 15 beats total instead of 16. Odd times like this are great because they give a loopy feel and when you're dancing along and you know it's coming you can throw in a cool hitchy hip swing or high kick or hand jive or whatever and those others listening along are all caught flat-footed! Take that others listening!!!

Another feature this song shares with plenty of other Superchunk songs is that a big chunk of the song is basically the same riff over and over, but with little twists here and there that make it seem like there're lots of different parts. Like this song starts with a pretty classic "octaves solo" intro (Which doubles as the chorus later on, but no singing at the start!) then goes into the aforementioned guitar harmonies thing. Then it goes from that into the singing, but the singing is over what is essentially the same riff as with the guitarmonies, but replaces those self-same guitarmonies. The song starts out pretty loud and rocking, and slowly anti-ratchets down to this singing part, another great lesson from Professors Superchunk in how subtractive parts are super freaking great. After the singing is over its into the loud MISSING BEAT pre-pre-chorus I obviously love so much. I mean, the effect is just great. The guitarmonies, verse and pre-chorus all share the "DAH DAH DAH" thing, but each is a little different so that you never get sick of what you're hearing. You're rocking in the beginning, they metaphorically bring the lights down, get all sensitive with it, then the blast you with the totally bad ass pre-pre-chorus! So much dynamism with just a few chords!!!!

So anyway, I keep talking about the pre-pre-chorus so its probably worth talking about the pre-chorus which is like maybe 4 seconds long. Well really, its not its own part, it's just the octaves solo from the beginning but played just on one guitar and drums. And anyway, its only half of the total riff anyway and I'll give you a guess as to what happens with the second half. What, you don't know? All you have to do is ask and I'll tell you: PICK SLIDES AND DRUM ROLLS! Hello old friends!!!!

They did this same thing in "Cool", basically, and maybe also "My Noise." It basically always works! The chorus is a great anthemic sort of thing, complete with discussion of his "special friends." What the hell?!?!? The whole song basically repeats verse/chorus two times goes into the bridge, which is once again (as was the case in "Breadman") a sort of rising guitar riff to contrast with the descending riffs that dominate the rest of the song. SO TRIUMPHY!

The end is the chorus over and over, but with the lyrics from the bridge going and a thin sounding guitar solo. You know, rocking out!

Song structure:

BABABCBAjr

(leaving out all the little twists and stuff)