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past (is not a music critic)
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this is one of the truest songs i know, saying this from the trenches of these days. you can tell he was in thick of it with his twins when he wrote it (just as the heartbreak of infertility is clear in "the palace of golden.")
beyond "the early days"'s themes, the way he drops locations in and around halifax in the song is sort of how that city feels to me. it's so fragmentary. i can't really put the puzzle pieces together in a mental map, bit i also smile at the references.
a few year ago we saw old man luedecke at a local theatre, before we had kids and before this song had such truth for me. he walked on to the stage, waved, look behind himself and paused dead.
the play the theatre company was putting on was something about a bus and the set was left set up for the concert, it probably was just an easy thing.
but chris, when he turned around, was disturbed. "you know," he said, "i played in peterborough last night." someone whooped. the migration east along highway 7 is real, i can attest.
he continued, "before the show, i talked to a panhandler. he kept repeating 'beware of the bus! the bus! don't go on the bus!' and you know i thought nothing of it until just this moment."
he signed, smiled, and started to sing "machu pichu." afterwards he gave the bus prop the stink eye, smiled again and said "if that song was ever appropriate it's now."
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