Last night we watched That Thing You Do! for family movie night, which reminded me how much I love Fountains of Wayne. (They did the title song that makes the "Wonders" a hit band in the film.) Going back to them can be a bit emotional for me, partly because I was listening to their first album a lot during one of the lowest depressions of my life, and also because Adam Schlesinger's death made the awfulness of COVID real for me in the early days of the pandemic.
I was struck by how much everyday melancholy permeates their songs. It isn't just the usual pop song laments about lost love, but also how much daily life grinds us down. "Sick Day" takes the point of view of a burned out office worker who decides she needs a break from the brutal commute from Jersey (something I know well) and the disheartening routines of being a low-level worker.
Songs about worker alienation tend to be more openly rebellious, like Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job and Shove It." Rarely are they more real, like "Sick Day." Very few of us ever tell our employers to go to hell, even if we all may have been in a job that made us wish we could do this. Instead, we soldier on, cry in the bathroom, or take a sick day just to get a break from the crushing ennui.
"Sick Day" has all the hallmarks of what I love about Fountains of Wayne beyond the aching yearning tone. The guitars are sublimely jangly, and the lyrics clever. "Lead us not into Penn Station" to the cadence of "Lead us not into temptation" is just *chef's kiss* as far as I am concerned. Now that I live in Jersey I can't get over the very specific references to the PATH train and Holland Tunnel. I've been commuting from Jersey to NYC for twelve years now and this song speaks to me in ways that few others do.
I am on spring break right now, and this song is helpful reminder for me to make the most of these days I am getting. If you're on spring break I recommend giving it a listen.
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