Uncle

Sport Murphy
Kill Rock Stars
General | Feb 2003

Reviews

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Reviewed 2003-04-29
Sport Murphy --- Uncle ---- Kill Rock Stars

This is Sport Murphy?s tribute to his nephew/childhood pal who was killed working as a firefighter at the WTC on 9/11/01. This is one of the better responses to the 9/11 I've heard since it deals on such as personal level without hatred or reactionary appeals to patriotism. It makes you think about the thousands of 9/11 survivors not in the public eye, suffering in silence. But it's hopeful - in Sport's words "Hatred is poison; induce vomiting, have a laugh at the enemy and move on." Sport's the former frontman for the folk-punk band the Skels and his music has irish-folk influences as well as the discordancies of Charles Ives, and Tom Waits. The varied songs are sad and heartbreaking and deal with the unfairness and randomness of life and death but not in a overly depressing way -- they reflect and refract pain and loss -- it's surprisingly hopeful and uplifting in the midst of sadness. Some of the songs have great clips of kids (Sport and his nephew) talking with Long Island accents.

Best are 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 16, 20, 21
1. good violin/organ/bongos
2. little kid telling a story, short song with flute
3. folky fiddle - sad stories
4. short, discordant trombone - kid's good night
5. irish feel
6. Discortant rant about a bird in the house
8. sad, good violin
9. short kid's song - "Welcome to New Jersey" - great!
10. upbeat
11. drum machine beat
12. short
13. about publicity-seeking survivors
14. short
15. rockin' guitar - hopeful
16. folk/irish violin - "shoo fly shoo"
17. great accordion
18. slow/acoustic guitar
19. slow/violin
20. mid - irish waltz feel
21. sad/piano - tom waits-esque
22. short - flute/accordion

Recent airplay

No Fair
Waste FMDec 20, 2016
Everybody's Gone
the rust beltJun 11, 2003
Johnny Lightning
On The WarpathMay 31, 2003
Bad Guest
Brownian MotionMay 21, 2003
Bird in the House
the rust beltMay 02, 2003
Miles Across the Sea
Off the PathApr 30, 2003

Charting

2003-04-28 — 2003-06-30
Week EndingAirplays
Jun 15 1
Jun 1 1
May 25 1
May 4 2

Track listing

1. No Fair
2. Johnny Lightning
3. The Lost Children
4. In Other Words, Never
5. The Late Days of Summer
6. Bird in the House
7. What Are They Doing in Heave
8. Miles Across the Sea
9. Welcome to New Jersey
10. Paul Lagrutta
11. Behistun
12. You Lousy Stinking Scumbag
13. Bad Guest
14. Played By Linda Blair
15. Such a Beautiful Sight
16. Shoo Fly Shoo
17. Frogs Are Singing
18. Sleepy River
19. The Sound of Her Voice
20. The Doray Waltz
21. Everybody's Gone
22. The Clang of the Yankee Reap