Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 11 - December '20

Planted and Enchanted
Written By Evan Hammonds
 
“When I was a young boy
My mama said to me
”There’s only one girl in the world for you
And she probably lives in Tahiti.’”
— Whole Wide World, Wreckless Eric
 

You can enjoy the Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 11 playlist in its entirety on Spotify. Just click on the included Spotify plugin.

Playlist Highlight: Whole Wide World, Wreckless Eric

A poll came out a few years ago that found that two -thirds of Americans believe in a “Soul Mate” or “The One.” We can surmise that Eric Goulden, an Englishman and frontman for the band Wreckless Eric falls into the majority camp, citing his 1977 “hit” and this month’s Playlist Highlight: “Whole Wide World” as evidence.

I use quotations around “hit” because it’s really a relevant term in this context. It’s far and away Wreckless Eric’s most well-known song, but it did not chart upon its release and has fluttered under the radar, slowly gaining critical acclaim over time.

Give it a listen and it’s not hard to see why it has built such a cult following, because, well, it rocks. It uses a simple two-chord riff, but there’s a lot happening here. The melody is seductive and - fair warning - will have you absentmindedly humming the tune under your breath for at least the next week or so.

The guitars are just as distinctive. In 1977, the Punk genre wasn’t quite mainstream yet, so songs like these were born and thrived in grimy pubs and rundown dive bars on both sides of the Atlantic. The lack of polish and low budget sound emphasizes the wholesome charm and desperate themes that are the song’s undercurrents.

When it comes to Goulden’s vocals, they are as guttural as they are accented. For instance, a quick check at the lyric sheet would spell out the world “girl” but if you’re doing a cover version and don’t pronounce it as “gurl” then I’m afraid you’ve completely missed your mark.

Most interesting, at least to me, is it’s one of the few songs I think of that contains a unique and contrarian idea. The opening quatrain frames it perfectly:

When I was a young boy

My mama said to me

"There's only one girl in the world for you

And she probably lives in Tahiti.'

Watch any movie, read any book, listen to any song, and you’re likely to be inundated with a love story of some sort. Even action movie plots or comedies feel the need to squeeze in a romantic subplot. It presents love as something that is so prevalent as to be completely unavoidable. In other words, it’s not if you’ll find your “Soul Mate,” but when.

This song’s narrator, thanks to the surprisingly demoralizing reasoning of his mother, points out that if there’s only one girl out there for him, only one “Soul Mate,” only one “The One,” then when you factor in that there’s several billion women on earth, probabilistically speaking, she lives in some location making it quite unlikely they’ll ever cross paths.

So the song takes a counter notion that finding “the One” is something that is unavoidable, but rather, something that demands an intentional quest. An scouring of the whole wide world, from the Bahamas to Tahiti.

To our narrator’s credit, the long odds don’t deter him or make him throw up his hands in exasperation, it inspires him - wrecklessly or not - to go and search for love. A reminder in 2020 of optimism and adventure, pursuits worth taking.

What is Planted and Enchanted?

If you’re anything like me, you surely have a “junk drawer” somewhere in your home. It probably consists of an old flashlight with dead batteries in it, a handful of rubber bands alongside some pens running low on ink, enough loose keys for you to qualify as a middle school janitor, some birthday cards given to you years ago (how quickly can I throw these away without it being rude? Better wait another decade just to be safe.), the box to your old iPhone simply because it’s a pretty darn cool box, and a small library of service manuals for among other things: your refrigerator, hot water heater, and that Instant Pot you used just the one time.

I don’t consider my junk drawer “worthless” mind you, but rather see it a collection of delightful discoveries (Hey! I didn’t know I had a yo-yo!), and delightful rediscoveries (So that’s where my playing cards were!).

That’s my aim for this playlist series: Planted and Enchanted. A monthly track list consisting of songs that likely won’t fit perfectly together in a classic album sense, but are useful in planting the seeds of discovery of new genres, artists, and songs as well as the unearthing of music you loved but had long since forgotten about. Who knows, there may even be a hidden theme or two that the savvy listener can piece together. The best part about this playlist? If you don’t like it, that’s okay. We’re talking about junk after all.

If you have a specific song that you’ve recently discovered or come to love, we’d love to hear from you. Just email us at freshcutfinds@gmail.com. We’re planning to roll out more content and a new playlist series in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Each month, we put together a playlist of our favorite discoveries new & old. Each playlist will be about the length of a mix CD (80 mins) and will be sent around the 15th of each month. Subscribe with your email address to receive the monthly Planted and Enchanted playlist, plus other occasional speciaty playlists.

Evan Hammonds
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Christmas Trimmings 2020
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Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 10 - November '20