While I did buy Hootie and the Blowfish’s 1996 sophomore effort, Fairweather Johnson, when it was released, that marked the end of my fandom. Like most of the world, I tuned out after that.
So their third album, 1998’s Musical Chairs, is completely new to me. And that’s a shame, because after a couple of listens, and despite the major hits on their debut, I think this album is better than either of the first two.
Musical Chairs offers up a nice variety of styles and sounds while not straying too far from the band’s bar rock roots. Not surprisingly, given Darius Rucker’s later success as a country artist, several of these songs tap into an Americana vibe. Today’s SOTD is the first in the band’s catalog to use a horn this prominently, to nice effect.
Musical Chairs reached number four on Billboard’s album chart and managed to go platinum, but that success (like the performance of Fairweather Johnson before it) looked paltry in light of the blockbuster performance of the band’s debut.
Like I do
Or is it just me
Wanting you
Tonight I’m special
Like no one else
I hope you need me
For yourself
Does it make you happy
To be so free
The times we shared
You loving me
And as you leave
And walk away
Your eyes they tell me
Someday you’ll stay
What’s going on here
What must we wear
To live in this fantasyland in your mind
Who’ll carry the load
For dreams left untold
Can you live in this world all mine
I would walk this journey
To say goodbye
To have you close would
Make me high
All the good things
That made you see
It was the strong thing
Being with me
[CHORUS]
Just look high above
And you’ll see where we should be
And if tomorrow makes us
And if tomorrow breaks us
Then you stand still and I’ll
Show you me
Like you never knew
Or is it just me
Wanting you
So as you leave
And walk away
I knew you’d come back
Now let’s play
[CHORUS]
It’s funny that an album selling over a million copies could be considered a failure, especially nowadays.