Filed under: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | Tags: Bob Dylan's 49th Beard, Cellist, Cello, Eggbeaters, Guitar Piano, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Jay Bennett, Jeff Tweedy, Poor Places, Reservations, simple, Studio, Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I’ve always really enjoyed “Reservations” as a song. The recording, however, keeps me ending Yankee Hotel Foxtrot after “Poor Places.” If you watch I Am Trying To break Your Heart, there’s a scene where they’re working on the cello part in the studio. Jeff is standing next to cellist, nylon-string in hand, playing the song while Jay is at a piano in the corner plinking around. I feel like the simple arrangement would have made a much better final recorded version, rather than having all of their studio tricks playing in the background. Also, the fact that the song carries on for about four minutes longer than it should takes it down a few notches in my book.
I guess I just see the song as simple. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is so full of feedback, synths, random percussion, and eggbeaters, it seems like it would have been even more moving to end it with something simple. I feel like that would allow the listener to come back down after the madness that is the end of “Poor Places.” I always thought the song would have sounded great in a “Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard” way: like a folk song. Jay Bennett actually said that, when you strip away all of the atmosphere they add, you have simple folk songs. Maybe that’s what Wilco should have done on this one…
But, once again, I do like the song and its lyrics. I just feel like the band didn’t let the song reach its potential as a recording…
