Sweet Emotion

"Sorry the Very Next Day," by Jeffrey Gaines: This song is built around a spare acoustic guitar figure, a hauntingly simple melody, and lyrics that resolve with an incisive double entendre. Gaines spends the first part of the track bemoaning the disaffection he experienced at the hands of his alcoholic father. He remembers being disillusioned at his dad's inability to stand upright when he was drunk and how he'd come home screaming and shouting, causing Gaines to cry himself to sleep cursing his name, and how, invariably, his dad was "sorry the very next day." By the end of the song, as Gaines reflects on his childhood, he recognizes the demons his father wrestled with and decides to cut the old man some slack, finding new life in forgiveness. Sadly, though, time runs out for both of them: "Then all too late I found a friend in you/Did all the things that good friends do/Worked together and talked about girls/Talked of dreams and traveling the world/Then your life was taken away/And I was sorry the very next day."

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"Alone Again (Naturally)," by Gilbert O'Sullivan: I'd have to say that this is, hands down, the saddest song I've ever heard. In the first verse alone, O'Sullivan talks about climbing into a nearby tower and throwing himself off in an "effort to make it clear to whoever what it's like when you're shattered." He then ruminates about being stranded at the altar on his wedding day and feeling abandoned by God in his hour of need. By the last verse, he's lamenting the passing of both parents, which has left him alone again. Honestly, I must've heard this tune at least a million times growing up. But I never listened closely to the words. It wasn't until I heard former Gamits frontman Chris Fogal cover it acoustically a few summers ago that I recognized its poignancy. Talk about melancholy and the infinite sadness.

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Upbeats and Beatdowns: With DenverFest 3 taking place this weekend, there's a slew of killer shows to check out. And while there's not room in this space to list all of the acts slated to play all three days (check out www.dfesthq.com for complete details), you won't want to miss the must-see bill of the year at the Marquis Theater this Saturday, September 1, featuring the hotly anticipated reunions of Christie Front Drive (see Critic's Choice, page 88), Crestfallen and the Volts, as well as one of the last local performances of Planes Mistaken for Stars. And then on Sunday, September 2, at the Arapahoe Warehouse, the North Atlantic will play its final show alongside Red Cloud, Ghost Buffalo, Think in French, Golden City, Git Some, El Toro de la Muerte, Jor Dan and Polar Opposite Bear. Before all that happens, though, why not kick things off at the hi-dive this Thursday, August 30, when Dualistics celebrates the release of long tail, its brand-new EP, with the Dan Craig Band and the newly rechristened Tifah and the Autumn Film?