Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

I'm hoping Ted Leo's upcoming album on Matador establishes his place as one of the smartest and most poignant songwriters around. In addition, he seems like a hell of a nice guy, judging by his regular calls to and in-studio appearances on The Best Show on WFMU, a highly recommended weekly radio program mixing comedy, talk and rock music. This track is a cover of a song written by a character in one of the show's comedy pieces, a failed songwriter who has spent years writing a single composition with an ambitious narrative scope and overwhelming number of characters. Leo's cover underscores his sense of goofy humor and fun, but it also suggests that, if you can follow all of the characters, maybe this isn't such a bad song after all.

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