“The Hardest Walk” was my first Favorite Song from The Jesus And Mary Chain. Though it is from their 1985 debut Album, Psychocandy, it was actually a Soundtrack that introduced both the Song and the Band, to me. It was in the 1987 John Hughes’ Film, Some Kind of Wonderful, and featured on the Soundtrack, that I owned and Music Obsessed over.
The Music off of the Some Kind of Wonderful Soundtrack played like they’d all been collected from the Import section of my favorite Record Stores during my teen and twenty-something years. Record bins where I’d discovered Bands and Artists that were not getting airplay on even the edgiest radio stations of the time. I loved perusing these Albums, discovering new favorites to follow and share with other Music Obsessive friends. The Some Kind of Wonderful Soundtrack was full of them, and led me to Bands, like The Jesus And Mary Chain, that I’d become a true fan of.
“The Hardest Walk” by The Jesus And Mary Chain
from the Album, Psychocandy (1985)
“I never thought that this day would ever come,
when your words,
and your touch,
just struck me numb.”
“The Hardest Walk” would show up in another of my Top Favorite Movies, Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation, and it would also be heard in an episode of my Favorite TV Series, “Gilmore Girl”s. The Song seems to “walk” into so many “me” places, reminding me every time how much I love it.
Psychocandy was released in November of 1985 on Blanco y Negro Records. Its considered a quintessential recording due to the Albums combination of Guitar Feedback with traditional Pop Song Structures. This Album and The Jesus And Mary Chain have been noted as influential on the Shoegaze Genre. (from Wikipedia)
For me, this Song has always been about the end of a relationship just before it actually ends. Everything has dimmed but you’ve yet to officially call it quits. As they say, “breaking up is hard to do”, and that anticipation to saying “its over” is a hard walk.
It also seems to me that the “it’s over” is only felt by the Song’s protagonist. With lines like “I don’t want you to need me” always made me think that the other person is still in it, or maybe that is just the perspective of the “singer”.
What do you think?
