Song of the Day 9/12: Midlake, “Roscoe”

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

Is Roscoe a productive name, as the Texas band Midlake would have it? And what the heck is an occupanther?

Was “Roscoe” one of the 100 best songs of the 2000s, as Rolling Stone says? One of the best of 2006, as Pitchfork calls it? Or does it sound like “candied cannabis and lark’s wings in aspic,” which “dean of American rock critics” Robert Christgau means as a knock but I’m not so sure.

Does “Roscoe,” from the album “The Trials of Van Occupanther,” sound like Fleetwood Mac or Alan Parsons or Dire Straits or Laurel Canyon folk-rock? Each has been cited as an influence. The critic who called it “forbidding psychedelic soft rock” might have been closest to the mark.

Was “Roscoe” really based on the theme from “M*A*S*H,” which songwriter Tim Smith fooled around with after hearing somebody play it on the piano? And by the way, does it evoke rural 19th century America or rural England of that era?

It’s fitting if mysteries surround “Roscoe,” because the song itself feels like a mystery. The music is haunting, though melodic and driving. The words are cryptic. It seems to be about a group of “stone cutters” who roam the countryside building houses of “cedar and stone.” The singer wonders what would have happened if as a child his name had been changed “to something more productive like Roscoe.” He was waiting “for a change or two” with his “Aunt Roseline.”

Oh, and occupanther is defined as “a very spiritual person who often relies on intuition for decision making.” But you knew that.

Midlake has made three albums after this one, each not quite as good as the previous one but all in the same vein. The most recent came out just a few months ago after a break of nine years. Front man Smith left after the first two of these, but the later songs are similar and guitarist Eric Pulido sings a lot like Smith.

Here’s another song from “The Trials of Van Occupanther.”