What's in a name?

So, when starting this blog...I had a good hour long debate of what I wanted to make the url be and what I wanted to name the actual blog (with URL being a little more important due to it being permanent). I played with a bunch of different ideas, most of which used song titles or lyrics...but I couldn't find anything that was both available and fitting. (And yes, I'm a crazy person, and that's important to me!)

What I REALLY wanted was thetuneshehums.blogspot.com. I pulled the idea from the song "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John...it's one of my favorite lines in the song: "Lookin' on, she sings the songs // The words she knows, the tune she hums." I absolutely adore Elton John (this song in particualar) and I thought it would have been amazingly fitting for a music blog...alas, it was taken, yet hasn't been updated since 2003. BLAST.

So I was flipping through my mental music catalog trying to think of a song that meant a lot to me and had some sort of musical reference within the song...anything about notes or tunes or singing.

Then a certain song hit me...and lo, anuncertainkey.blogspot.com was born.

The url and the current title of this blog come from a song called "Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure" by The Weakerthans.

To put it bluntly...I fucking love The Weakerthans. But honestly, this has only been a recent development. Up until maybe a year ago I was what I'd consider a casual Weakerthans fan. I had been listening to them for a while at that point. I don't even particularly remember how I got into them...it was quite a while ago, though. I think my friend Jo may have recommended them to me? Regardless, I did give them a try and thought they were quite lovely There were several songs on Reconstruction Site that I found myself listening to over and over again...and "Plea From A Cat Named Virtute" was one of them. I feel like this song is an absolutely prime example of the AMAZING writing of lyricist and lead singer John K. Samson, an absolutely underrated genius. His songs are quirky and clever without being too self-important or annoying...sweet and poignant without being overly sappy or cringeworthy.

"Plea From A Cat Named Virtute" is an interesting track. It's a really upbeat, catchy track...but the lyrics and story within the song are not the happiest! The song is, if you haven't guessed, from the point of view of a cat. Specifically, from the point of view of Virtute (Latin for "strength" or "virtue"), whose owner just went through a really bad breakup. Virtute is frustrated that things aren't the way they used to be and wants everything to get back to normal...she (because even though a guy is singing it, I for some reason always assumed the cat was a she) bemoans the fact that her owner doesn't want to play anymore, all he does is "drink and watch TV" and although she's pretty much had it...what she really wants her owner to feel better. She threatens

I swear I'm gonna bite you hard
And taste your tinny blood
If you don't stop the self defeating lies you've been repeating
Since the day you brought me home...
I know you're strong.

It's laughable and sweet at the same time, imagining these thoughts coming from a cat. And I absolutely fell in love with the quirkyness of this song.

And then, last year, the band released their long awaited album Reunion Tour...aka: the album that turned me into an actual fan, the album that was the only thing I listened to for a month of my life, the album that made me consider them to be one of my favorite bands. Every song was so great...and I was pleasantly surprised when I first looked at the tracklist to see the return of Virtute...but perhaps not in the way I would have expected.

Departure? Virtute is departing? I knew this couldn't be good.

The first few times I listened to the album, I didn't pay 100% attention to the lyrics...I just wanted to get a feel for the music. But eventually the time came when I really wanted to feel out John's lyrics for this album...particularly for "Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure":

It had something to do with the rain
Leeching loamy dirt
And the way the back lane came alive,
Half moon whispered "go"
For a while I heard you missing steps in the street
And your anger pleading in an uncertain key
Singing the sound that you found for me

When the winter took the tips of my ears
Found this noisy home
Full of pigeons and places to hide
And when the voices died
I emerged to watched abandoned machines
Waiting for their men
To return, I remember the way
I would wait for you
To arrive with kibble and a box full of beer
How I'd scratch the empties desperate to hear
You make the sound that you found for me

After scrapping with the ferals and the tabby,
Let you brush my matted fur
How I'd knead into your chest while you were sleeping
Your shallow breathing made me purr

But I can't remember the sound that you found for me
I can't remember the sound that you found for me
I can't remember the sound...

When I actually took the time to sit down, read the lyrics while listening to the song...the reaction was quite visceral. Honestly, I was so surprised at my reaction. I actually got a knot in my stomach and tears in my eyes when I tied together the beautiful, wistful melody (such a contrast from Virtute's first appearance) and the absolutely heartbreaking lyrics. It really is so sad when you think about it.

The assumption is that the owner didn't answer Virtute's initial plea, so she ran away. That first verse is about her owner looking for her...the "sound that you found for me" being her name name. She hears it...he's calling it, half angry, half pleading, but winter comes and apparently her owner has given up looking for her. She's still thinking about him, though. I adore the "scratch the empties" line. It's like when your pet is doing something they know they shouldn't and you say their name. She is so desperate to hear her owner's voice, even if it's him scolding her. That second to last verse KILLS me...poor Virtute is remembering all the things her owner did for her, but it's been so long since she's seen him that she just can't remember her name anymore. The way John sings those last few lines, with such pleading in his voice, absolutely gets me every time.

I think it's absolute brilliance, this song, and one of the more recent songs that has caused such a reaction in me...so I decided to use parts of it as the title of my blog. I'm not completely sure if I like it for the actual title...but I think the url of "an uncertain key" is somewhat fitting. I never know what I'm going to like or what I'm not going to like...what I'm going to gravitate to or pass on. Music has a bit of uncertainty to it...and even if I find I have to wade through a hundred different songs that I don't like to find one that I do, I think it's always worth it.