328. "Twenty-Five Forty-One" by Grant Hart

Listening to the beginning of this, you might conclude that it's become a bit of an ideé fixé of mine to do Grant Hart solo songs on mandolin. This one eventually moves on to broader territory, though. One kind of neat thing happens here: on that ever-recycling chord sequence, the voicing I used for what's supposed to be an A minor on the mandolin turned out to be a power chord instead, and the melody barely suggests that it's a minor. So the two or three times that overdriven guitar actually plays the full chord during the playout are effective the first time the "real" chord progression reveals itself. Some call it accident, but I like to describe it as retroactive genius.

If Grant Hart had done nothing after Hüsker Dü other than writing this song (and compared to the output of a lot of people, including Bob Mould, over the last twenty years, that's not for from the case), it would still constitute a brilliant solo career. It's just a fantastic song, also covered by the amazing Robert Forster, and a few others, I believe.

Personnel: Rex

"Twenty-Five Forty-One" performed by Grant Hart

"Twenty-Five Forty-One" performed by Rex Broome