MUSIC

One Track Mind

The Situation - "Pine Street"


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Published: Jul 29, 2008

If you could bottle the sounds of passing cars, muffled conversations and those long, lonely walks through Philadelphia's skinny streets, "Pine Street" would be the elixir. Written and performed by local band The Situation, led by Christopher Tucker who died last week at the age of 37, the song is ultimately an ode to realizations about love, heart break and the passage of time. The lyrics — "And you want your story to be told as the lines on your face are growing old. In the end you don't have to pay a price for what you know. Didn't you know?" — crooned elegantly like a Harvest Moon-era Neil Young, summon a mood that's at once melancholic and wise. When Tucker warbles, "There is something asking you to leave but you know that you can't go," you can't help but wonder if his muse was the city itself. In these darker days following Tucker's premature death, and following the doomful path of Nick Drake's sensitive songbook, "Pine Street" starts to sound eerily prophetic, though no less beautiful. It's the ultimate song of self, whoever you are.

"Pine Street" is from The Situation's 2006 self-titled debut. Listen to it now at citypaper.net/music.