Empty Cans
The Streets
This morning Mike Skinner’s voice popped in my head with an “Oy” and it made me laugh. What a voice. And this brilliant 8 minute album closer is from my favorite STREETS record. He had an original voice from the beginning — and I don’t just mean the sound of it, but his ability to weave his DNA into the fabric of his music. No one else could’ve written A GRAND DON’T COME FOR FREE, only Mike, and it’s such a satisfying collection of songs that tell one character driven story. Easily in my top 5 story albums of all time. Skinner cinematically describes what happens in his rhymes — but the first person storytelling is self deprecating, funny and often profound. I’m still not quite sure how a thousand quid could get stuck in a TV, but I can easily suspend disbelief. Because this ending song EMPTY CANS is so damn moving to me. He’s getting drunk, blaming the world, blaming his friends, fighting with the TV repairmen — then ultimately comes to the realization that he was the one to blame all along. I often think of this character running off into the night, late for something and his jeans too tight because he washed them too high. Somehow this little funny detail makes me believe he’s gonna be alright.
About two this afternoon the last of the people left my house
'Cause they never stop chatting 'til all the rackets gone
I really feel like things clicked into place at some point
Or maybe it's the fact that me and Alison really got on
Or maybe it's that I realized that it is true
No one's really there fighting for you in the last garrison
No one except yourself that is
No one except you
You are the one who's got your back 'til the last deeds done
Scott can't have my back 'til the absolute end
'Cause he's got to look out for what over his horizon
He's gotta make sure he's not lonely, not broke
It's enough to worry about keeping his own head above
I shut the door behind me, huddled up in my coat
Condensation floating off my breath, squinted out the sun
My jeans feel a bit tight, think I washed them too high
I was gonna be late, so I picked up my pace to run
The end of the something I did not want to end
Beginning of hard times to come
But something that was not meant to be is done
And this is the start of what was
