I have had this song sitting in my drafts queue for literally all of 2009.

I added it there on the 30th of December, 2008, with the intent of featuring it soon thereafter. But for one reason or another I kept finding new songs to highlight instead. Well, for one reason, really… no need for another: I don’t have anything interesting to say about the song other than that I dig it.

I have no idea what it means. I don’t understand the significance of a junkie cosmonaut, though I like the phrase. I don’t know why the fruit is calling from the trees, nor why it is rusting on the vine (although, again, I really like that image).

Cracker was formed in 1990 by a few former members of Camper Van Beethoven. Kerosene Hat, the album that featured ‘Low,’ was their first and only hit. They’ve gone on to tour extensively and release quite a few albums since then. Interestingly, they have both recorded and toured with the reconstituted Camper Van Beethoven, with some members splitting time between the two bands. And one former member joined Counting Crows.

That sort of band-hopping feels weird. I’m used to bands like U2 and R.E.M. — bands defined by a finite membership. When Bill Berry left R.E.M., they felt in many ways like a new band… and their work hasn’t been as good since. But I can’t name one member of Counting Crows aside from Adam Duritz, and apparently the others come and go. I guess some bands are so defined by their front man or woman that the rest don’t really matter. Quick, name a Wallflower other than Jakob Dylan!

Of course I can’t name any members of Cracker.

OK, enough of my filibuster… at long last, here’s ‘Low’: