Ween - I Can't Put My Finger On It
And a brand new Fiction-Focused newsletter is now live!
Alright folks! I have some big news!
You may not be aware of this, but I’m not only a music essay writer, I also like to write fiction. In fact, fiction was my sole literary jam for a couple decades before I transitioned over to writing predominantly non-fiction the past few years.
I’ve been jonesing to return to the world of make-believe and so have created a new Substack called Dig If You Will My Fiction.
I have more half-finished novels than you can shake a stick at. Well, maybe not that many — it’s not that difficult to shake a stick — but a bunch!
And I have written many short stories, 1-act plays, poems, experimental works and more, some of which I’ll be sharing in the newsletter. But I’m hoping to utilize this fictional home for newer writing.
It’s not something I’ll be posting to according to a schedule, it’ll be fairly irregular in fact, so don’t worry about your inboxes being inundated with more newsletter announcements.
Just click the box above to be taken to the Dig If You Will Introduction post. Or click the box below to read a comedic flash fiction piece about talking file folders.
I would bet that many of you recognize the title of the newsletter as a play on words honoring perhaps my favorite musical artist of all time, Prince. I had to reference my love of music for the fiction site.
If you want to read my fiction but don’t want to subscribe, you can simply go to digifyouwill.substack.com or you can also find the writings on the main page of earworm.substack.com, where I have added a tab at the top titled Fiction Writings.
Please let me know your impressions and if you’d like me to add you to the subscriber list instead of having to handle that nonsense yourself, send me a comment or email and I’ll handle it for you.
So, it took a couple of weeks after the fact, but a more traditional finger (breaking)-themed earworm did pop in my head today.
Traditional meaning that I didn’t have to look anything up, it emerged all on its own.
I’m talking about the song “I Can’t Put My Finger On It” by Philadelphia’s favorite fake-brother duo, Ween. This song is from their 1994 release Chocolate and Cheese, arguably their finest album. This song is extremely silly, like a lot of their tunes, but no other band that I can think of is/was able to attempt (and succeed) at writing and recording in as many different musical genres as Ween.
I say is/was because it’s unclear if Ween is broken up or not. They still perform live, but haven’t recorded new music since 2007. Both Gene and Dean Ween (Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo) have focused on their solo projects and I haven’t heard about plans for a new album.
“I Can’t Put My Finger On It” felt an apt earworm for me, as I still can’t put my right hand middle finger on anything without a splint, which for some reason was really driving me crazy today as I thought my digit had been improving.
Two steps forward, one step backward, I guess. The choreography for performing the “I Can’t Put My Finger On It” dance.
I’ll write a more proper piece about Ween later, when I have 10 functional digits, as they are one of my all-time favorite bands and I’ve seen them in concert probably a dozen times. They do deserve a much deeper dive, and I expect to enter that ocean later in 2023.
Before I sign off, I feel like I should mention a few other songs with the title “I Can’t Put My Finger On It.”
Donnie Osmond, Sammy Kershaw, and one of my favorite bands from the ‘80s, The Housemartins. Here’a a playlist of all 4 different versions of the same-titled song. Maybe my friend
will do an Inside Track treatment on these four wildly different songs that feature the same song title!
I’d love to find out what you think of Dig If You Will My Fiction. It doesn’t have much there yet, and I’m 100% opening it up to other writers contributing, so if you are a short fiction writer (you don’t have to be short in stature — just your words) and want a platform, let me know here or over there!
Also, I’d be curious what other finger songs you feel should be on the ultimate finger playlist!
Thanks for reading!
Steve
Oof. Now I have that Prince song (when doves cry) in my head. But still worth it and I’m definitely checking out your new Substack. Congrats!!!
Ween - probably the best band I've ever seen live. Loved them since I first saw them at The Cat's Cradle in November 1994 - it's not hyperbole to say the show changed fundamentally the way I listened (and still listen) to music. Went out the next day and bought Chocolate and Cheese, followed by The Pod, Pure Guava and the massive God, Ween, Satan: The Oneness. For months, it was pretty much Ween on my stereo - which meant these guys formed the soundtrack to my master's thesis ... and you can tell! Saw them again a few times at the now-defunct Be Here Now, but alas haven't seen them since then. Great reminder of this band - I'm about to drive home from work and will be putting Choc and Cheese on the car stereo! Thanks!