Clothes: The Fitted Shirt

Spoon: The Fitted Shirt

[purchase]

This is one of my favorite Spoon songs. What I love about it—other than the way the rhythm throws you at the beginning—is that it's not a song about style. I mean, Spoon is a stylish band, so you'd be forgiven for thinking that. Britt Daniel's delivery oozes swagger, and the band never seems in a rush to rock you. They just do, as coolly as possible. But this song isn't about that. It's about fathers. It's about childhood and the mystery fathers can be to their kids. Dressing up each day and going away until dinner time, then mysteriously putting on a new set of clothes for the evening. It's about nostalgia. It's about growing up and solving the mystery. It's about preserving someone's modest legacy ("I'm gonna find buttons for my dad's old used shirt"). It's about love.