91. Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear

"Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear

Written by Ed Droste, Daniel Rossen, Chris Taylor, Christopher Bear
Produced by Chris Taylor
Released on Veckatimest (May 26, 2009)
Released as single on June 1, 2009
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Released in 2009, "Two Weeks" is the most recently produced song on my top 100 list. Growing up, I never expected to be out of touch with popular music. Even when I was getting into classic rock, I still listened to and was aware of new music that was out there. Sometimes it was just to scoff at it. Sometimes there was cool stuff that I liked. Now, I simply don't really care. How did this happen?

My parents were both fans of music. My dad grew up listening to the great swing bands of his youth and continued listening to jazz throughout his early adulthood. When I started playing the saxophone in elementary school, he told me about his favorite alto player, Paul Desmond, who famously played for the Dave Brubeck Quartet. My dad loved the Time Out album (released in 1959). Even his love of jazz had its limits though. When I played in the jazz band at Lindenwood, he got really annoyed that my band director only had us playing more modern stuff. He even went so far as to donate charts to the university for some swing classics. I'm pretty sure his musical tastes never ventured very far out of the 1950s.

My mom is a little different. She was in high school when the Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show. At the time, my mom was attending a boarding school, so all the girls were down in the dorm living room watching on the communal TV. The way my mom told it, once the Beatles started playing, just like the girls in the audience, most of the girls in the dorm started screaming. My mom was not one of those girls. She actually wanted to hear the music, so she tried to tell the other girls to be quiet. Her efforts unfortunately were fruitless.

My mom continued listening to music into the late sixties and seventies. She was more aware than my dad of what was happening in music when I was growing up. I remember her being the one to tell me when we were living in New Jersey that Bon Jovi and Whitney Houston were both from New Jersey too. She at least had a finger to the pulse. She certainly wasn't listening to the same stuff I was, but she was still finding music she enjoyed. Even now, she loves supporting local jazz artists and inspirational music, including the work of my amazing sister (her step daughter) Julia Wade. Keep up the great work sis!

As I got older, my tastes evolved, and I continued looking for more music. Whether it was something new or something old that I had missed, the search never seemed to stop. There was too much beauty and artistry to ignore. I kept buying CDs and mp3s and cultivating playlists. But then, sometime around the time I turned 30, it stopped mattering as much. I had my collection, and it seemed like it was enough. Sure I would buy some music occasionally, but it was often stuff that I had wanted previously, but just hadn't bought yet; just rounding out my collection. Not much new music.

If someone asked for my opinion of the greatest albums of each decade from the 60s on, I could at least come up with decent answers for each of the decades up until our current decade. I'm not even sure I could name 10 albums from the 2010s. There are a handful of albums from the first few years  of the decade, but after that only "Awaken, My Love!" by Childish Gambino has made any sort of impact on me. I've become my father. I'm content with the music I like, and that's about all I need.

What happened to me? How did I become this shell of a music lover? Will I ever care about new music again? Every passing year I feel like I can relate more and more to Abe Simpson's classic quote:

I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you.

So here I am, writing about my favorite songs, and everything is old. Only 17 out of my top 100 were released after the oldest student I am currently teaching was born, and (of course) that number can only get smaller.

But this song, "Two Weeks" is fantastic, regardless of when it was released. It has magical harmonies and a chill vibe. Grizzly Bear are a bit avant-garde, and I haven't found much more from them that I like, but "Two Weeks" is simply awesome.

Right now "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear is (probably) my 91st favorite song of all time.