Feb 2022 week1 bodypart toothcore capitalism jangle-pop jangle stylophone indie-pop
I saw this tweet: "According to most insurance companies, teeth are luxury bones that I must pay more to continue enjoying" (@itsdansheehan)
So I borrowed it for this ultra-poppy, ultra-jangly dental insurance capitalist nightmare dystopia song that's all about giving up your dreams in exchange for getting to keep your teeth and pay your rent.
When we were in second grade
They asked us what we wanted to be
I never thought that I would say
An insurance actuary
But there's no market for
A hundred thousand ballerinas
A hundred thousand quarterbacks
Filling endless sports arenas
So wind up working for the man
Find a job with a dental plan
If you're lucky, you get to keep those luxury bones
Taking classes at the night school
Looking up what it takes to be
A medical coding specialist
Or an actuary
And wind up working for the man
Find a job with a dental plan
If you're lucky, you get to keep those luxury bones
Every day, every day you get to solve somebody else's problems
Every day, every day
Every day, every day endless figures fill the columns
Every day, every day
When you calculate the odds
Of your chances of getting to go to space
They frankly don't seem very good
But what does that matter, anyway?
You have a job that pays you well now
And there's no room for dreamers
You know what your life will look like
You were always good with numbers
So wind up working for the man
Find a job with a dental plan
If you're lucky, you get to keep those luxury bones
Vision and retirement
Cash for death or dismemberment
If you're lucky, you get to keep those luxury bones
If you're lucky, you get to keep your luxury bones
@frenchcricket Feb 2022
Lisa needs braces! Love how you've extracted (no pun intended) a philosophy, and world weary lyric from just one tweet. The melody is so sweet on this, particularly love how it falls on 'find a job with a dental plan'. The rising harmonies on the every day bit are great as well. Music has a bit of an Alvvays feel to my ears.
@mikedebenham Feb 2022
Ha, marvelous. I've never heard 'actuary' sung so soaringly. As someone who just paid over $200 to have someone scrape at my luxury bones for ten minutes, I find this all a little close to home.
@itneverhappened Feb 2022
Great genre, ultra-jangly dental insurance capitalist nightmare dystopia. Ultra-jangly is always good. Great pop skills and lovely vocal! Reminds me of Camera Obsura.
@jennakole Feb 2022
I love the candy sweetness set against the hellscape reality you’ve so skillfully encapsulated here. Nailin it,
@andrea Feb 2022
Have to thank @schlimminycricket for pointing me in your direction in the recommendation thread. This is the second song I've listened to and I'm a true fan. Your lyrics are engaging and fun. Your music and melodies are so interesting and catchy. I'm having so much fun listening to your songs.
@ayehahmur Feb 2022
Love that ability you have to turn found dross into 24 carat pop gold, to see the poetry out there in the world. Especially where it's unintended, and I'm pretty sure the term "luxury bones" must have been when it was coined. But my god what a great concept for a song.
And what a great song too. Soooo catchy. Especially love the breakdown, and I'll be singing "every day, every day" to myself all day now for sure.
@mardeycranbleson Feb 2022
As an actuary I don’t know if I approve or not lol… absolutely stellar song despite the subject matter could be the fall in love montage music for an 80s rom com. So carefree and light sounding I love it! Great hook at the end with luxury bones.
@shortdan Feb 2022
Love the concept! Lovely delicate vocal work as ever. That chorus is super catchy. Great arrangement and mix too. My fave of yours so far this year! :)
@seemanski Feb 2022
Nice bit of borrowing, great little catchy number this. Your vocals remind me of the cranberries, the harmonies reminded me.
@rayboneor Feb 2022
That tweet made me laugh pretty hard. Luxury Bones has to go on the fake band name thread--or someone needs to make it a real band.
I'm picturing you up on stage doing some windmill chords in the beginning. Then that jangly guitar is so great. Indeed, it's all great. I just love the way you take it down in the middle and then build it up again. This would be amazing live. Everyone would be singing along. It's so perfectly sweet...and angry. This will go in my pantheon of favorite owl song
@nancyrost Feb 2022
What a biting commentary!
Love the pretty melody, the poppy musical treatment, the touches of glockenspiel and stylophone. And most of all I love the lyrics.
I think my favorite bit is "You know what your life will look like / You were always good with numbers".
@skylermf Feb 2022
Great use of the “luxury bones” concept - it really is a dystopian phrase isn’t it? I like how you have it juxtaposed over this playful, pop-guitar instrumental. Almost makes it even more jarring
@sailingmagpie Feb 2022
Lovely, breezy feel to this song. The breakdown to the toms is a nice change of pace too. I feel like this could be the 80s college radio hit that never was. Luxury Bones is such a great title.
Over here, dental work is one of the few things that isn't available for free on the NHS, so many people can't afford, so just dont go to a dentist at all. Hence the long running jokes about British people's teeth. Yet some morons over here still want to privatise our health care system completely!
@rubberbandage Feb 2022
Such an awesome song about a totally not-awesome reality. I saw there was a “dystopian challenge” on the boards, this certainly qualifies.
Are you using a vocoder on the chorus vocals? They have this fantastic quality combined with the stylophone, like a a choir of breaking-down androids.
Thanks also so much for your wonderfully kind words on so many songs, especially “Someone that I’m not”. You are a source of constant inspiration and aspiration for me!
@ndavies Feb 2022
I'm into this one! Solid melody, and the recording turned out really full and crisp
@b3nut Feb 2022
Damn does this ever hit home...sticking to a korporate 9-5 to have health and dental insurance...and I need some more work on my luxury bones yet... :- A sunny take on the downtrodden dyspepsia of end-stage capitalism...great stuff!
@sadloaf Feb 2022
Very fun song. It has a sort of Beach Bunny breeziness to it, but also a sort of REM-ish guitar feel? IDK, I always connect everything to REM. The Luxury Bones tweet is an all-timer. Love the stylophone in the final chorus. Such a wonderful silly instrument.
@popmythology Feb 2022
Hi, Owl!! Long time no see!! I really love this sweet, honey-coated, R.E.M.-esque sugar pop goodness juxtaposed with f**ked up lyrics. Have already listened twice and will probably be back for more. My ears and brain feel like they're being dunked in warm jelly even as my skin crawled at the reminder that I haven't been to the dentist in years and years (cuz I couldn't afford it until now) and am absolutely positive that I probably have lots of painful work that I need to get done on them when I eventually do go. Yay, capitalism run amok.
@brisk Feb 2022
Oh hell, this is brilliant. The thing about you is, you can do words AND music, which is a bit unfair. This is just going to be a list of things I liked about the song which might get boring: I loved the "Every day" bridge and harmonies; I thought "filling endless sports arenas" was like a chess brilliancy after the build up; the chorus melody is just lovely. Right, I'll stop gushing. No wait, just to add - you do dynamics really well here too - and adding that... stylophone?? at the end was just a really fun move.
@leslie Feb 2022
Totally original song concept. Love it! Bouncy and fun, perfect tone to match. This belongs on my favourite radio station.
@splittybooms Feb 2022
This song made me want to go brush my teeth again.
"You have a job that pays well now and there's no room for dreamers" Oy...that hit home hard.
But gotta keep these luxury bones, right?
Love the style and feel of this. Great production all around - such a good mix, too.
Really like the drum beat here, very classic and gets my head swaying with the guitars.
And of course the vocals are awesome...this is quite catchy and just simply sounds really excellent all around.
This would go straight in my music library if I randomly came across it on Spotify or something like that.
Listened twice.
@dvdshnsmth Feb 2022
Wit and melody!
@paulh1237 Feb 2022
I want to call my next band "Luxury Bones". At first glance it looks to be available, so that's good news.
This is all great, but I really love when it strings back to the 'every day every day' section with those amazing little harmonies.
Bit of a REM feel to the chorus. This is a good thing.
@kevinmason Feb 2022
Haha, great, clever commentary. As a kid who grew up wanting to be an astronaut, that last verse hits.
@richaaaay Feb 2022
Thoroughly enjoyed this. You are so witty, clever and communicative with your lyrics. You vocal harmonies are delicious. Love the composition, it keeps it interesting throughout. You are a master!
@thelowestbitter Feb 2022
This is great, maybe my favourite of yours so far this year. Lyrically brilliant and thoughtful and cutting. So many cool melodic choices in this - I particularly like the stylophone hook in the chorus. That chorus is so hooky in general, gonna have it my head for a while I reckon. Great!
@adforperu Feb 2022
An excellent hit of inspiration for this. That back and forth between the two verse chords in such a laid-back manner really elevates the chorus when it appears, alongside that most excellent stylophone sound. That tom-tom heavy bridge is such a nice change-up as well, you've rightly kept things simple, but it's just a great arrangement all round. It does kinda sound like your hi-hat is 17 houses down the road, but I can let it slide.
@balancelost Feb 2022
The melody on that first line of the chorus is pure pop gold, the kind that stays in your head all day in a good way. The whole thing is great. It's like an in-form Tobin Sprout song but more hi-fi
@coolparadiso Feb 2022
What a great hit of inspiration, how true! The lyrics are so interesting and your usual easy to listen to vox. Top song.
@davidtaro Feb 2022
Love the way you set up the arena/ballerina rhyme, that's a very pleasing little payoff. I wondered if there was an opportunity for alliteration with 'Or an *actual* actuary' in that third bit - but maybe that would be a bit of a mouthful!
The idea for the song is perfect, it's one of those random, ghoulish life details out of which a good songwriter should see both something to be appalled at AND an opportunity for a song :)
The jangly guitars are lush. And I really love both the melody and the way you sing that line 'Find a job with a dental plan'.
@sp4cek4a3n Feb 2022
Funny, clever, just a little bitter. Your lyric game is inspiring as hell. Love the overall style - it's like the Smithereens and the Go-Gos got together and made an album in 1980. Palm-mute bliss and lovely guitar timbre.
It's like a lost 80s classic.
@vomvorton Feb 2022
Love this, such jangly goodness and the stylophone is a nice touch - sounds almost like a transistor organ here. Super catchy melodies, really like the bridge.
@thedutchwidows Feb 2022
This jingles and jangles in all the best possible ways. I love the story you’ve extrapolated from the tweet; luxury bones is a treat of a term for teeth. The breakdown into the every day part is so satisfying and the stylophone is inspired. I still think of them as a sci-if instrument for some reason and it adds a quirk here that works super well.
@allaboutgeorge Feb 2022
What a great title, and this song balances the dystopian capitalism with this sweet lilting pep-step. It feels like vintage Sarah Records, or mid-00s Camera Obscura. It's so frigging well-done.