Song About Caroline

Last Saturday, I went to see The Oddfellows live at the Esplanade as part of the +65 Indie Underground gig to promote the CD of the same name. The last song on the set was Song About Caroline, and I managed to record it. It was one of The Oddies' earlier tunes and also was probably one of the most requested song, judging by the fans, many who were shouting for the song to be played.

The song also held a special place in my heart. I first heard the song on the New School Rock CD which was released by BigO magazine many many years back. I was in JC and was starting to discover the world of local music as chronicled in BigO. I remembered when I got the CD, I couldn't listen to it because I don't have the luxury of owning a CD player at that time. So to listen to it, I had to ask my piano teacher to help me copy the songs to a cassette. When the bassline floated from the stereo speakers during the copy session, I was hooked. Funny thing though, my piano teacher heard it and remarked that the bass was out of tune! Regardless, the raw energy and the 'devil-may-care' attitude of the song just ignited something in me. Since then, The Oddfellows is still one of my most fave local band. If anything, this song marked my journey of discovery of local music, which eventually led to me writing for BigO for a while.

It was close to 20 years ago since I first heard this song. Hearing it live at the Esplanade was nostalgic and brings back memories. Many things in my life have changed, many things have happened, but tunes like this still live on. The version played at the gig did not have the running 'out-of-tune' bassline that I heard on the CD. But the DIY punk attitude, the ironic lyrics, were all still the same. Even though the song was sung without the word "Asshole", it didn't matter. The crowd helped to filled in the blank of this "up yours" song.

And it was still as memorable and fun as the first time I heard it.