"The Beast in Me" by Nick Lowe

SONG TITLE: "The Beast in Me"
ARTIST: Nick Lowe
ALBUM: The Impossible Bird
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1994
WORDS: lyricsdownload.com
DOWNLOAD: right-click here

Anyone who knows the recent career of Nick Lowe can tell I've screwed up the images and links above. It's intentional. The song I want to highlight here is "The Beast in Me", which is a better fit with the album "The Convincer" than "The Impossible Bird" on which it was released. Plus, I just love that cover. Does he look like a classic crooner, or what?

Nick Lowe was a prolific behind-the-scenes guy for 20 years, producing tons of seminal punk and pop bands. He had a pretty sad solo career, though, getting a reputation as a One-Hit Wonder with his song "Cruel to be Kind" in 1979. In truth, he's released twelve albums, but none of them has shined like his most recent trilogy: "The Impossible Bird" (1994), "Dig My Mood" (1998), and "The Convincer" (2001). The latter is the best of the lot, and if this was Album of the Week I'd be highlighting it for sure.

But this is Song of the Week, and for that I turn to the quiet croon "The Beast In Me". This song brought Nick Lowe to my attention - as it did for many others, I'm sure - by playing over the closing credits of the first episode of HBO's The Sopranos. Yes, it captured Tony Soprano well. But it also spoke to me.

I don't have a raging temper. I don't fly off the handle. I don't perpetrate violence. But I'm a jerk with a frequency that disturbs me. I don't want to be. I'll be humming along doing my own thing, and then cut the legs out from under someone who dares speak to me. Even the someones that I love. I don't know where it comes from, but it's a Jekyll/Hyde thing that doesn't feel like it's within my control. Apologies don't help, excuses don't help, and for that reason this is really neither. I suppose it's simply an acknowledgement that there's work to be done, and a plea for patience.