Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This week I present “Her Royal Fisticuffs” by Superchunk:

This song is from The Laughter Guns EP, released in 1996.  When I was a snot-nosed college rock DJ at the premier radio broadcaster in Hamilton, N.Y. (90.1 on your FM dial, Central New Yorkers, and on the internet everybody else!)  I used to play this song to death.  And yet: it never died.  Fast, fun, melodic, loud: Superchunk’s songs all kind of sound the same, but it’s a hell of a song, and somehow they never get boring.  I think the reason is that when you really pay attention, they don’t sound the same at all: there’s a lot going on between the two guitars, bass, drums and vocals that add up to more than the sum of those parts.  Also, I think I just have a soft spot for bands that take a pretty standard set-up and invest it with equal parts brains and balls, or what, if this were 1932 (and let’s face it, the way the economy is going, it might as well be), I would no doubt call moxie.  This song is one of their underrated best.  What’s it mean? Who knows and who cares.  Just–oh, man–don’t take her on.