Polaris - Summerbaby

Last night was such a bummer- Morrissey went out on stage to play six songs, only to have his voice crack and end the show early. Throughout all of today the disappoint still lingered on. However if there's one thing that always elevates my mood it's The Adventures of Pete and Pete. I know I reference this show all the time in this blog- it's well deserved though. I could bring it up more, as it still quite doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Maybe I'll do an entire Pete & Pete week in the future. I like that idea. Late August I could see that happening.

Yesterday I commented on "Summertime" and the thousands of times that song has been covered. In terms of band names, "Polaris" has to be one of the most duplicated, with at least 6, yet for me and many others, there is and will forever be only one Polaris. The thing is though Polaris isn't even a real band per se, as they were conceived and existed solely for the purpose of playing the opening credits on Pete and Pete. They were of course real musicians though, featuring Mark Mulcahy and others members of the mid 80's Connecticut based band jangle pop band Miracle Legion. Polaris also wrote an entire album for the show, but the only times we ever actually saw the band was the opening credits and, get this transition- the episode "Hard Day's Pete" where Little Pete sees Polaris playing "Summerbaby" in a garage on the way to school yet when he returns to the site he finds no sign that the band nor the song even existed, apart from a mere guitar pick. This then guides the rest of the episode with Pete forming his own band The Blowholes (featuring Marshall Crenshaw!) to try to find his fleeting favorite song. It's absolutely fantastic, especially for those with the experience of playing guitar and being in a band. Definitely one of my favorites from the series.

Polaris - Summerbaby

"Summerbaby, come on baby, show me the town
I didn't know that you'd be such a short visit
Once a year I noticed that you're not around
Mama says you went when you were exquisite

If you seen all I done
I'm alone I do things nobody knows

We were all wondering where you came from
Last night we were hypothesizing that you were an angel
Sometimes it feels like you're looking down
From a place up where angels are from

If you seen all I done
When I'm alone I do things that nobody knows
Every drop of sex, every little mess I've made
I was around, I was around

I was around
(nobody knows, nobody knows)

Do you see a lot of angels up there like you?
Wolfgang and Vincent van Gogh
Have you seen Josephine?
Someone from town like Marshall Brown?
Or someone you know?

Here's "Hard Day's Pete" in its entirety for your viewing pleasure-



Music From the Adventures of Pete & Pete @Amazon.com