Don't Pass Me By

One of the many tracks that was cut from Divine Discontent, "Don't Pass Me By" was relegated to the b-side of "Don't Dream It's Over," the note-for-note Crowded House cover that acted as a kind of "There She Goes II" for the band. The guitars on this song are a great acheivement, the crisp staccato chords of the chorus and the sneaky near-surf riff introduced in the second chorus. It took me a couple of years to realize that the whole song switches to a swing feel on the bridge, because it's done so subtly. Once you notice that, it's like, damn, that is a groove. The shift back into the driving rock beat is so seamless that I can almost forgive myself for never noticing the whole thing before. I believe this is only the second Sixpence song to feature trumpet ("The Lines of My Earth" being the first), and it works really well, setting the stage for the in-your-face horn section that would emerge on "My Dear Machine."

Other highlights: what sounds like the world's tiniest snare drum, messy ugly chords on the verses, and rhyming "clean" with "clean."

Speaking of grooves, give me a minute to find mine. I'm just getting back into this.