“History Never Repeats” - Split Enz
(Words/music: Neil Finn, available on History Never Repeats: The Best of Split Enz, A&M 1987)

Without a doubt, the internet changed how we discover new music; if we want to hear something we haven’t heard, there’s many ways to find, sample, and even obtain music or a video or even an artist biography and discography.  Even something like the iTunes store makes owning music available at a whim – I could download almost anything I wanted to hear and have it on my iPod in half an hour.  This is an incredible blessing to us (and, I believe, to musicians as well), but running a search shouldn’t be the exclusive avenue for discovery.

For example, my own musical education – an ongoing process – employs a degree of networking.  I’m constantly asking friends and family what they’re listening to and what I should hear.  The internet makes this so much easier – I could post a tweet asking for new recommendations and have them roll in over the rest of the night.  Still, there’s something satisfying about making a personal musical discovery – the kind that starts with something you love and ends up with a new favorite.  The story about how I came to Split Enz begins with Pearl Jam, one of my favorite bands of my youth (and still today, although that love has evolved – more on that another time) and one of the “gateway” bands that led me toward different things I love.  Pearl Jam was a convenient starting point if for no other reason than the plethora of cover songs Ed and the band performed.  Specifically, I came across Neil Finn through the first 7 Worlds Collide collaboration, which led to finding one of Finn’s solo albums, and ultimately led to finding the History Never Repeats compilation.  I’d already heard some of the songs - “I Got You” and “History Never Repeats” specifically (the latter from the 1995 Pearl Jam Christmas single where Ed, Neil and Tim Finn performed a lovely version of the song) and came to enjoy a lot of the other songs on the collection as well.

“History Never Repeats” thrives on a nervous, youthful energy – those fast sixteenth notes on the hihat push the tempo to the point where it sounds like it’s speeding up.  Finn’s lyrics describe a story of young love gone bad and the attempt to reconcile shortcomings in the past with the power to proceed with the future.  There are artifacts of the new wave era in this song – in particular that bright synthesizer running through the chorus – but the arrangement avoids sounding completely dated.  The jangly guitar line that alternates with the chiming chords in the chorus adds another melodic layer underneath Finn’s vocals.  The melody is plenty catchy, but I’m always drawn in by the high harmonies that enter and exit the song; even at a young age (Finn was 23 when the song was recorded in 1981), Finn had a keen sense for knowing when to use certain techniques.  Three minutes of harmonies at a strained register would have grated on the listener, but used in moderation with some other excellent flourishes – a discordant piano, the drumroll-fueled bridge, and those synth arpeggios – keeps the song interesting a near quarter century later.

More on Split Enz: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm