Radio Sky

Okay… one more from the Corin Raymond mix CD: a captivating ballad from the Warped 45s, a roots rock/country band formed in 2007 in Toronto, Canada.

This is one of those bands whose online presence is scant. Other than the fact they formed in 2007 and won a fans’ choice award at the NXNE music festival in Toronto in 2009, there’s not much about them other than an out-of-date Sonicbids account and virtually all dead links on their Facebook page. None of the usual lyrics services carry the words to this song, but I did find them on an annotations website, aggregated from the closed captioning in the official music video on YouTube. I have to wonder if they are still an active band, given the “radio silence.” An administrator occasionally posts on the Facebook page, but not with content about the band.

So with that lack of information, the song carries some mystique around it. It seems to be an ode of sorts to music and the writer’s wish to be remembered by his friends’ songs, with the tunes loaded in a jukebox or playing on the invisible radio waves.

“Let my headstone be my favorite jukebox
Loaded with the songs of my friends
Tuck the sheets of rain tight under my collar
By the headwaters of a hubcap stream

Rest my head beneath the rusted needles
Rustic hymnals and warped 45s
Blessed be the barrelhouse piano
Beating in the dying light of the radio sky

Let my bones be the porous marrow
Of the hayloft sparrow, and the chevron geese
Set me free to the tricks of the trade winds
On the note that the song ends sounding reveille

Rest my head beneath the rusted needles,
The rustic hymnals and warped 45s
Blessed be the barrelhouse piano
Beating in the dying light of the radio sky

When the mist around the moon is a howling perfume
Push B24 and sway barefoot on my grave

Rest my head beneath the rusted needles,
The rustic hymnals and warped 45s
Blessed be the barrelhouse piano
Beating in the dying light of the radio sky
Damn the radio sky.
Damn the radio sky
Damn the radio sky.
Oh damn
Let my headstone be my favorite jukebox
Loaded with the songs of my friends

“Radio Sky,” by the Warped 45s.
Lyrics retrieved from AllReadable.com.

The song has a definite country vibe through the acoustic guitar, banjo, and vocals. I hadn’t remembered it from listening to the CD in the past, but I was glad to dust off the digital file and hear it today.

“Radio Sky” comes from the band’s debut album, 10 Day Poem for Saskatchewan (2009).

Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here.

Here’s the official video from the Warped 45s’ YouTube channel:

With warm wishes,

Steve