secret weapons: new york dolls edition

that chugging, itchy riff; the way the placement of "trash!" makes the verse cycle a little bit frantic; unexpected majesty serving as the perfect frame for a defiant line like "'cause i don't know if i DO!" (btw, anyone else hear "white room" in that progression?): all awesome, necessary foreground elements, but the song would have a very, very different character if it weren't for those ghostly background vocals that kick in around 0:32.

having mulled it over, i think the power of this incidental element lies in the way it eludes defining, an enigma within the context of the rest of the music going on. is it eerie? is it pensive, gloomy? is it beautiful, like an angel hovering above the chaos?

there's a vitality to this kind of challenging incongruence; the song can effectively take on a new life with every listen ... and perhaps that, and not the obvious pleasures of the sugar on top, is actually the most compelling hook.