Fountains of Wayne will always be known for ‘Stacy’s Mom’ which is kind of unfortunate when it means people will overlook absolute gems in their back catalogue such as ‘Hey Julie, The Summer Place’ and this cut from their 2007 album ‘Traffic and Weather’. For some reason the end of it always reminds me of the theme to The Littlest Hobo, a country road song whose jangle guitar belies the foreboding lyrics describing “an eerie kind of sadness on the highway today” and describing hotel rooms as “air-conditioned cable-ready cold padded cells”. More The Band than Weezer, FOW are on a long term hiatus at the moment. If they don’t return, this still lives on in my mind as one of the best country songs ever by a non-country band.
Songs for the apocalypse: Fountains of Wayne “Fire in the Canyon”
