This Year: 2020

"This Year" is a series of weekly posts, each about one song from one year of my life. See the introduction for more.

I've been really serious a lot in this series, but pop music isn't supposed to be serious all the time. So, for 2020, I have a great song that's no more serious than it has to be, a great, almost bubblegummy, bouncy song that I hope can get your toe tapping and your mouth smiling.

It's Nervous Wreck by Jeremy and the Harlequins.

I first heard them with the equally poppy and even slyer Cam Girl, a '60s-sounding song about a '20s relationship. And I think they often work in that vein: not "60s style," exactly, but modern pop deeply influenced by that era, using a lot of the familiar sounds and styles to say new things.

Nervous Wreck is a first-person song: the singer is a mess, and he's telling us about it. There's a driving beat behind it all, and a chime-like guitar sound that comes in and out. But it's mostly that voice: this is a song driven by lyrics, almost chanted, just a little fast, from beginning to end.

There's also one of those slight deliberate stammers in the chorus, which works wonderfully: it's a great sound, and it sells the story.

I don't want to analyze this one too much, so I'll leave it at that: this is a great jukebox song, the kind that pops up and makes your life just that bit sunnier for three minutes.