#55 (of 365) "The Freed Pig" Sebadoh

In the Great War between J Mascis and Lou Barlow, two of the three original members of Dinosaur Jr., who departed ways after three absolutely incredible albums together, it's Lou who ends up the winner in a way, in that this song is the highest ranked of any Lou or J song, and Sebadoh's top 2 tracks (this and "Skull") both outperformed anything in the Dinosaur catalog. In fact, there was a time in the late 90s when I was a pretty obsessed Sebadoh fan and had a disparaging POV of anything Dinosaur did post-Lou, despite having first discovered the band post-Lou. It was a confusing time. In the last two decades though, the artists have made up, reformed (multiple times) on Dinosaur Jr. reunion tours and new albums and basically put the past in the past. And, as it turns out, in retrospect, seems pretty clear that (1) Lou was the bigger asshole in the fight and (2) Lou's contributions to the early, classic Dinosaur songs were inferior to J's, by a lot. So, Sebadoh was/is a great band, Dinosaur Jr. was also a great band, and we were/are lucky to have both Lou and J in our lives as music fans.

It is with all that background that this particular song, a vitriol-spewed screed of hate directed from Lou to J after the dissolution of Dinosaur's original threesome, ranks this high on my chart. It reads as Lou spitting back to J some difficult words that maybe J said to him after Lou made demands on the band that led to him leaving. It's a great fucking song, with wonderful, hateful lyrics. But it's interesting to think now that J. was probably right all along...

You were right
I was battling you, trying to prove myself
I tried to bury you with guilt; I wanted to prove you wrong
I've got nothing better to do than pay too much attention to you
It's sad, but it's not your fault
Self-righteous and rude
I guess I lost that cool
Tapping 'til I drive you insane

I'm self-righteous, but never right
So laid back, but so uptight
Destroying your patience to tolerate me
With all the negative spirit I bring

Right, I was obsessed to bring you down
Watching your every move
Playing a little-boy game
Always with something to prove
Waiting to cut you down, making it hard to live
With only one thing to do
Cut me first, make it easy

Now you will be free
Now that nothing depends on me
Tapping 'til I drive you insane
Now you will be free
With no sick people tugging on your sleeve
Your big head has that "more room to grow"
A glory I will never know
A glory I will never know

"The Freed Pig" - Sebadoh // III (1991)