I can’t post a Michael Penn song on this blog without bemoaning his prolonged absence from the music scene.
Today’s track is a bit of Beatles-esque filler from his most recent album, Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947. That record came out in 2005 — yes, eight years ago!
That’s not a hiatus… that’s retirement.
So now I will do what I do every time a Michael Penn song pops up in my random playlist — I will check the web to see what, if anything, Mr. Penn is up to these days.
It turns out he is writing the score for the HBO series Girls, which is actually a pretty good gig considering the amount of attention that show has received. He has scored several films over the past decade as well, following up on the work he did for Paul Thomas Anderson on Boogie Nights.
So it’s not like he’s working at Starbucks. But still, don’t fans of his songwriting deserve actual songs? Will he write an album full of those anytime soon?
He did write a song for the Girls soundtrack, and I think I’ll stash that one away so the next time I feature him on the blog it’s with new material. Stay tuned.
Turn around Mary Lynn
Hold my head up
Turn around Mary Lynn
And if you’d only stay the night
You’d see it’s not so
Black and white
And on a hard day
Put your cares away
And pray
Meet Me In Montauk 
How is this album? It may be 8 years old, but it’s new to me.😄
Can’t say this song would make me all that eager to explore the rest of the album…
If I had to pick one word to describe the album, I’d go with “fine.” It’s too short — almost an EP rather than a full-length album — and a few of the tracks (like this one) are more filler than legit songs. But it does have some standout tracks.
I bought it back in 2005 and I like it. It’s better than having no MP material.