Now I'm Learning to Love the War

Father John Misty

Father John Misty

“Now I’m Learning To Love The War”

This is one of my favorite songs of the year, and almost purely for functionary reasons. I don’t consider it emotionally moving or intellectually engaging, like many of my favorite songs. In terms of “best” — even the most subjective “best” there is — I don’t even think it’s the “best” song on the album. Sure, I think the lyrics are clever and thoughtful and a little ridiculous in all the right ways, I think more American music should be as wry and funny as this song and album is, and I love all the little fills and the Beatles-y pomp of the chorus. It’s an exquisite bit of craftsmanship. But what really makes this song one of my favorites is that it’s the most fun song to sing along to out of nearly any this year. Believe me, when I’m alone in the car with this album, I belt the stuffing out of this song.

I called my reasons “functionary” because there isn’t anything inherently “fun to sing to” about the song other than it happens to fit my voice very well. I can’t pretend to be nearly as good a singer as Joshua Tillman, but this album is roughly in the same range and tone of my voice and it sounds good when I sing to it and my voice vibrates with his in my skull like a tuning fork. It may not fit your voice — yours may fit with Fiona Apple’s, or Frank Ocean’s, or Neil Young’s. But it works with mine.

I guess I’ve always been drawn to music by singers in my general range and tone, and who have lyrics with words and melodies that are fun to sing.  It’s no surprise that Okkervil River is one of my favorite bands; Will Sheff sings in my range and has a Scrabble-champion’s love for words.  It makes sense to me that I love Her Majesty the Decemberists maybe a bit more than I “should” love such a silly record…have you tried singing along to it?  The melodies, vocabulary, and tone are such giddy fun that it’s small wonder many people dislike the band.

I think, to some extent, these are some of the reasons that women often get short shrift in “best of” music lists. Most music writers are men, and I think we’re often subconsciously attracted to music we could sing, perhaps out of an innate desire to harmonize, and a lot of us men can’t hang with many women singers. Growing up, I was always attracted to music by male singers with deeper, midrange voices — I preferred Pearl Jam to Soundgarden, Elton John and David Bowie to Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.  I always loved Joni Mitchell, but there was also a distance between us, and not just because her perspective is so distinctly feminine; it’s partially because her voice barely seems to exist on the same planet as mine.  While Tillman is a world-class singer and I am not, he often does me the kindness of drifting his voice down into my general neighborhood, where I can meet him and we can have a good time together.