In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing.
A few months ago, a group of my old friends from the Bay Area realized it had been a decade since we graduated from one of our schools together, and we planned a small reunion at a bar on the peninsula. At the time it seemed like a fantastic idea, since I’m still very close to a lot of people I grew up with, but I haven’t seen them in a while thanks to the post-college diaspora. But a week before the event, people started to get cold feet, unsure of who would show up, worried about seeing friends who had grown apart. And two nights before, I got a message from a friend inviting me to have a few pre-reunion beers at a house within walking distance of the bar, because nobody wants to be totally sober before talking to people they haven’t seen in a decade.
Modern Baseball’s “Your Graduation” captures exactly the right mood for dwelling on the minute details of past regrets. Brendan Lukens’ lyrics hold a grudge like a viper struggling to get free, pent-up venom directed at no crippling misfortune in particular, just being unlucky in love. At a party, the narrator spots his ex on the stairs, “too drunk to stand,” and wonders whether she’ll stay with her new guy forever. And that forceful, messy sound—guitars urging forward, the drums kicking in to keep the pace up—reminds me of all the albums I would toss in my CD player to keep my mind off the one that got away when I was a teenager. (“It’s been three whole years of me thinkin’ bout you everyday / Sometimes for hours, sometimes in passing.”)