Finally, after an unusually long, boring, dreary winter, the sun has come out! The effect it has on people in the street is incredible. They smile more and they seem so much nicer. And I, as always, want to hear the old classics that fit the weather so beautifully. One of the songs I always long to hear around this time is “Blister In The Sun” from 1982 by the Violent Femmes. I wait for the part where the singing goes down to a whisper until it finally bursts out louder than it was. The song has been covered by a bunch of bands and it’s been on a movie soundtrack or two, so I’m always scared that it’s going to get played out, but so far I still can’t get enough of it.

There’s an ugly rumor going around that it’s about, ehm, pleasuring oneself. I refuse to believe that. My favorite sunny anthem cannot be about masturbation. It just can’t. So I looked it up and thank God, Gordon Gano, the lead singer, says he wrote it about a girl he had a crush on in high school. I’m not sure where the “Body and beats, I stain my sheets” and “Big hands, you know you’re the one” lines come in, but I’m satisfied with that explanation, and I don’t ask questions like a good soldier. My other favorite song is The Divinyls’ hit “I Touch Myself”. Heh heh.

   Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun