Gardenia, by Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks.
See, the new dog’s name is Jasmine, and there are a few flowers that I am comically allergic to / repelled by, including, in theory, something my mom calls “night blooming jasmine” that I assume exists, but also, gardenias. This came up in recent conversation, and I “hey siri”-ed myself a reminder to “sing gardenia” and so here we are with this song.
Playing a Malkmus song that’s in standard tuning feels like taking a shortcut, but the changes are just too sweet. Like a gardenia.
We had a gardenia bush in front of the second house I lived in as a kid, and eventually my mom had it ripped out because it was giving both of us headaches all the time and was just generally a nuisance.
I’m somewhat surprised to learn this is the first non-Pavement (ok, except for the Silver Jews song I did in like the first week of the year I think) Malkmus-affiliated number in the project.
All of Real Emotional Trash is amazing, and you should listen to it, and if I don’t attempt Baltimore, it’s because the electric guitar will probably rile up the dog, and really, nobody wants that, and especially not while the dog is either in the office with me, or while she is specifically not in the office with me.