Song of the Day 2/16: The Presidents of the United States of America, “Naked and Famous”
Though today is widely known as Presidents Day, the federal holiday is still officially called Washington’s Birthday. Many states have switched the name to Presidents Day, but nine states, including Delaware, don’t observe it at all. Luckily for kids, public schools are closed anyway.
I understood celebrating George Washington, his slave-holding notwithstanding, but I’m not keen on celebrating all of them. Presidents come and presidents go – while the current one doesn’t intend to, Father Time is undefeated.
Even the Presidents of the United States of America eventually disbanded, but not before providing Seattle with an upbeat answer to the gloom and doom of grunge. Their eponymous debut album, released in 1995, went triple platinum on the strength of four singles, including “Peaches” and “Lump.”
Despite its catchy tune, “Naked and Famous” wasn’t one of them, and once you hear the lyrics you’ll understand why, even thought they replaced the original “fuckers” in the first verse with “suckers” for their major-label launch.
POSU was known for its use of non-traditional instruments. Bassist/lyricist Chris Bellew played a “basitar,” a guitar strung with two heavy-duty bass strings and played through a bass amplifier, while guitarist Dave Dederer played a “guitbass,” a three-string guitar he “played like a bass” through a guitar amp. For “Naked and Famous” they added a true guitar, wielded by Soundgarden axeman Kim Thayil.
The song actually predates PUSA. Bassist Chris Bellew wrote and played it with his previous outfit, Egg, a Boston-based busking duo. That version was one of the bonus tracks on the 2005 re-issue of the Presidents’ debut album.
That re-release also included the song’s New York demo, basically an acoustic rendition performed on guitar, harmonica and bongos.
