My favorite song of the year so far. Local H singer/guitarist Scott Lucas wrote “One of Us” while he was on his way to a wake for a friend. As Lucas told the Onion AV Club last April “It’s a funeral song, but I didn’t want it to be morose. I wanted it to be unsentimental and kind of triumphant, and above all else, unapologetic. Anything less would’ve felt like lying.” This is an amazing, powerful song, the best highlight of many highlights from their terrific album “Hey, Killer.”
Before you watch this clip, here’s some background …
Elvis Costello made his US debut on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) in early 1978. He was supposed to perform “Less Than Zero,” a song about racism in England and Costello got through about 15 seconds of the song before he abruptly cut it and launched into “Radio Radio,” an extremely critical song about the increasing control of media by corporations.
Cut to 22 years later … SNL is broadcasting a 25-year tribute show. The Beastie Boys perform their hit “Sabotage” when Costello runs on stage and … well … I think you can figure out where it goes from there … a clever way to pay tribute to one of SNL’s most notorious moments and a terrific performance of one of Costello’s best songs with help from one of the most innovative rock / rap groups of all-time.
Even nearly 40 years later, the lyrics still bite:
“Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead.
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed.
You either shut up or get cut up, they don’t wanna hear about it.
It’s only inches on the reel-to-reel.
And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools tryin’ to anesthetize the way that you feel.”
Dave's Strange World 