There’s no go time like the days before a big weekend. You’re trying to get all your work done so your two days of freedom can be stress-free; you got your party playlist all ready to go, but what do you listen to in the meantime as you buckle down? This song.
The Apples in Stereo‘s “Go” perfectly plays out that fantasy of reaching your limit of your frustration and being able to flip the bird as you walk away.
Starting in Denver, Colo. in 1992, the Apples in Stereo have been known for their dramatic shift from psychedelic garage rock in their early days to more energetic, indie pop. Most of the band’s work is the product of lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Schneider who write the majority of the material. The rest of the lineup has continually faced revolving-door alterations, with temporary members joining and leaving to add to the list of instruments and dynamic sounds featured on their albums.
“Go” was released mid-career as their beginning track of the album “The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone.” Amidst a swirl of indie rock and pop, “Go” builds and slides off of layers of instrumentation, including a riffing guitar, light percussion, cheerful flutes, jubilant horns and the occasional bongo drums. What results is a track that embraces agitation in an exultant victory, celebrating the moment when you’re finally able to get out.
Schneider lists the different situations in which you wish you could just walk away: your hostile workplace environment, when you’re friends are publicly acting like idiots or when you’re being judged for how you look. Each descending verse that offers a different scenario returns back to Schneider’s proposal of “Don’t you want to go/ the moment that you get there?” broken by the cloying, suggestive “Go baby”s sung by Schneider’s then-wife Hilarie Sidney.
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What’s so endearing about this song is its ability to turn a negative reaction to your environment into a jubilation of triumph. It’s about dealing with the crap the world puts you through, while savoring that sweet, sweet thought of escape tumbling in the back of your head. The perfect pick-me-up during the final stretch.
The good news is that it’s Thursday. So while you tackle the remaining work for the week, it’s nice to know there’s only 24 hours until your wish of getting out can come true.
