“Me and the Major” – Belle and Sebastian
(Words/music: Stuart Murdoch, available on If You’re Feeling Sinister, Jeepster 1996 & Matador 1999)

While their later albums make Belle and Sebastian sound like a full-forced pop collective, If You’re Feeling Sinister has a solitary feel.  At their inception in 1996, Belle and Sebastian was Stuart Murdoch’s touring band assembled to record and perform the songs he composed.  More than any other album in their catalog, If You’re Feeling Sinister focuses on Murdoch’s wry view of the world, offering beautifully composed (yet stiffly recorded) songs sung with his immaculate and meek voice.  Unlike the most recent Belle and Sebastian records (and the incredible 2006 live recording of If You’re Feeling Sinister available on iTunes), Murdoch’s songs sound small and intimate as a result of its recording.  While many are quick to praise the album while adding a caveat to the quality of the recording, the result puts the emphasis on Murdoch’s voice and words and makes it they type of album best engaged independently.

In this collection of songs, “Me and the Major” stands out primarily because it is a step or two faster than the other songs on the album, save for “Mayfly.”  It’s also the song that emphasizes feeling over story, as Murdoch repeats himself as he tells the story of his protagonist and an older man separated by their ages and experiences. Told exclusively from the perspective of the younger character, Murdoch describes the experience of being judged by someone who takes little time to consider the other perspective.  He gets his jabs in, describing the Major as out of touch and on the verge of mental collapse, and this defensiveness needs the song’s quicker pace and higher energy.  However, that lively harmonica part distinguishes this song from the rest on the album, filling Murdoch’s song with this joyous energy.  As the song progresses, the harmonica grows more prominent, swelling as the protagonist’s indignation for his elder grows.  On the 2006 live recording, “Me and the Major” sounds even more confident as Murdoch and company include a decrescendo in the final verse that gives way to a lively climax.  The original, especially when compared with this version, sounds like an internal monologue – what Murdoch’s protagonist thinks to himself as he sits on the train across from the Major, building up the list of things he’d say when he finally gains the nerve.

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