Heart Beat, pt 2

Speaking of that dourly side of the heart spectrum, let’s continue our Valentine’s Day march with Paul Westerberg and his first single as a solo artist, “Dyslexic Heart.”  Famously derided by Westerberg himself as “bubblegum shit,” the song certainly reeks rom-com fodder, from its Na, Na, Na interludes to the overly calculated guitar solos—but this make sense given that the song served as instrumental backtrack and unofficial theme to the movie Singles. All that being said, most of the track’s shortcomings are easily overlooked given Westerberg’s sardonic wit and knack for catchy melodies. Few others could have made the singles scene sound so simultaneously fun and hopeless.  That glasses play toward the end always kills me—whether for guilt or humor, I’m not quite sure….