Sonic Youth - Sympathy for the Strawberry

Band – Sonic Youth
Song – Sympathy For the Strawberry
Album – Murray Street

Before Murray Street came out, I was a casual Sonic Youth fan. I discovered them when the 100% single was released off Dirty when I was in high school, bough Daydream Nation and really didn’t think much about them. Then I was introduced to the album Murray Street. This was a very spiritual time in my life and the droning washes of sound that were so strongly featured on the album really spoke to me. The album is exceptional from start to finish and correctly follows through the experiments they attempted (and mostly failed at) on their NYC Ghosts & Flowers album.

I generally don’t like the songs Kim Gordon sings as much as the ones Thurston Moore takes lead on, but Sympathy For The Strawberry is a huge exception. Dissonant notes and a wash of sound introduce what melts into a chant-like vocal performance by Gordon and back into sonic praise for techno-god. I used to crank this song on my way home from a job I hated, to help bring me down and lift me up.

HERE’s a pretty cool video of the band rehearsing the song (visit Amazon to hear the album version)

Hear Also: The Empty Page and Rain on Tin