One Track Mind: Good Feeling by Violent Femmes

Violent Femmes self-titled first record has stayed in rotation in my playlist since I heard it at age 15, and "Good Feeling" is one of the reasons why. People talk a lot about opening tracks on records--I'm reminded of the "Side 1, track 1" scene in High Fidelity--but sometimes the closing track of a record reveals a context to the previous songs that might not be apparent.  Violent Femmes is a artistic monument to self-worship, most it revelling in anthems to feeling alienated and isolated, and the strength that you can find when you face the world alone.  "Kiss Off" and "Add it up" perhaps best exemplify this, but it's clear on songs like "Blister in the Sun"--surely one of the greatest anthems to self-love--or "Promise" where singer Gordon Gano gets so caught up with his internal struggle between his "logic" and his "defenses" that he ends up pleading his paramour for "some sign to pursue, a promise" because "your unhappy--this only a guess."  Even the vocal arrangements exemplify this.  Gano and his bandmates sing together on many of the songs, but it's almost always call-and-response--someone is invariably singing alone. 

"Good Feeling" is the last track on the original record (newly pressed versions have bonus tracks), and it represents perhaps one of the most violent (ho ho ho) right turns in all of popular music.  The previous songs had been snarls and frantic spasms of music and words, but "Good Feeling" is slow and sad--the sigh at the end of the argument.  Gano's nasal voice trades in its anger for longing, longing that the good feelings would stay, "just a little longer". Bandmates Brian Ritchie and Victor DeLorenzo (and Martin Hecke) provide the perfect backdrop of piano, bass, and softly played drums, and Gano plays a simple, yet achingly beautiful violin solo about half-way through.  The first note of that solo is still one of my favorite sounds on any album, ever. 

Eventually, we discover the source of the good feelings, when Gano sings "Oh Dear lady, won't you stay with me, just a little longer".  It's a cry for companionship at the end of an album stubbornly devoted to isolation, and suddenly Gano's previous urgency and snarky rejection of those around him feels weak and defensive.  As if to bring that point home, the song ends with the band, for the first time, singing in harmonies together.  It's an outro worthy to be included with the likes of "Hey Jude", and the seemingly meaningless final words say more than meaningful lyrics ever could.

 "Good Feeling" transforms Violent Femmes  from a collection of singles into a cohesive and timeless album.  There is a lot on this record about frustrtation, alienation, and anger--emotions often associated with being a teenager--but "Good Feeling" reminds me that all emotions come in cycles, and continue to, long after we grow out of our adolescence.   We may get caught up in them from time to time, but what brings us out is other people.  The connections we make, the love we share, the friendship we hold--these are the things that give context to those darker emotions, and the small strength we often need need to find as we stare inward gives way to the peace we can find when we reach out our hands to someone else.