Wilco, "Any Major Dude Will Tell You"

Someone I know is presiding over the dissolution of a relationship this week. The relationship in all but name ended some months ago; the only difference is that now the separation will be physical as well.

I'm not an unbiased observer, and I don't know the whole story - which makes me the worst person to chime in, except to say that I considered posting for today's entry a number of kiss-off songs on my friend's behalf, motivated by a bitter need to pitch a snit: Teddy Pendergrass's "I Don't Love You Anymore" (nah, too vindictive); Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" (too melodramatic, and no Sugar Bear in the storyline); New York City's "I'm Doin' Fine Now" (close, but too many differences in the details). I considered "I'll Be Alright Without You," Journey's last good single, and an appropriate sentiment (but holy period hair, Batman!).

But instead of snapping at a third party second-hand and making a tough situation worse, I'll offer some words of consolation for someone who once sent me the same words when I underwent a rough patch years ago. "Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you, my friend / Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again." We undergo changes. Maybe we melt down, dissolve; but even if so, from that salt and water and our essence we rebuild. At least, that's the optimism I pull from Becker and Fagen's logic on one of their prettiest tracks. But since I assume you've heard the Steely Dan original plenty of times, let me give a spotlight to Wilco's gentle cover of "Any Major Dude Will Tell You." It appears, along with a number of other Dan covers of wildly varying quality, on the soundtrack to Me, Myself and Irene, a Farrelly Brothers comedy I've never been the least bit curious to see. But I bought the soundtrack, since it has the aforementioned Dan covers, and what else should it have but Hootie and the Fricking Blowfish doing a cover of one of my all-time favorite songs, and a true obscurity at that, "Can't Find the Time." But that's a story for another day.