#TrashCatTuesday – Episode 15
We’re all victims of nostalgia, there’s no doubt about it. Some people clutch to childhood and try to hang on to it forever, some try to replicate their past victories as much as possible, and some of us just mourn what was lost.
The journey is pretty overwhelming at times, for sure, but as a chronic storyteller, it’s fun to revel in. The echoes of what happened before can be bright spots sometimes, but of course it can run the other way. That’s definitely what was on my mind when I wrote “Oil Over Waterpaint.”
The title comes from a phrase from the song. When I wrote it, it was called Growing Pains. But then that phrase stuck out. The idea is that you are taking your childhood memories and adapting them to your life as you age – like an artist painting over their childhood water paint scribbles with oil on canvas. Making them endure, building on what was there before, but defining them.
In much less words, with much less obviousness. That’s what the song means to me as it’s creator, but you can get whatever you want out of it as a listener.
A few weeks ago, Sean mentioned we should finally learn this song together and build a set around it. Lately, we’ve been having our “easy” sets and our “homework” sets. Figure out a couple new covers together and play from our catalogue for a couple weeks before doing something new. And wouldn’t you know, it came together in a flurry. The synergy we’ve grown in this band really hits home sometimes. A couple of the picks were obvious. Like we’ve said, Frank is so prolific it’s almost hard NOT to find one of his songs that fit.
But then, since I’m an 80’s kid, there was that ONE song about living forever that stuck to the theme just so very well. We don’t dive into the murky 80’s much, because 80’s kids usually start listening to their own music when they were in the 90’s.
But, I like cheese. In moderation.
– Matt
- Polaroid Picture – Frank Turner
- Oil Over Waterpaint – The Trash Cats
- Forever Young – Alphaville
- Dammit – Blink 182
