Lost Songs Preservation Project: Eyesore

Full embrace of skeletons in closet

Hey, would you like to hear a song I wrote when I was twenty three? TOO BAD. The Old Songs Preservation Project continues (a needed re-brand from the old “Lost Songs”) and we are digging deep into old songwriting journals, unearthing things that perhaps should never have been earthed in the first place. Case in point: this ersatz Jay Farrar song from 1997, called “Eyesore,” is sandwiched in the notepad between “Save Yourself” and “Kickaround” — two songs that would end up on Tarkio’s one LP, I Guess I Was Hoping For Something More. I think we played it during practice a few times, maybe played it live once, but clearly it did not even meet my twenty three year-old standards (which were admittedly a little lax). It went unrecorded and remained so for twenty five years. UNTIL NOW.

Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I dredging up songs that were rejected long, long ago — songs whose mediocrity have been re-litigated and reconfirmed time and time again? Good question. For now, it’s an opportunity to at least give these songs an airing before they are forever relegated to the dust bin — and maybe you’ll be entertained along the way. Without further ado, (paid subscriber) Machinist, I present: