MGMT’s Weekend Wars
Mic check mic check, echad shtaim one two:
What it is, y’all! I’m Margaret from Asheville, North Carolina (yes I’m a Jewess named Margaret and yes the tribe exists in the mountains of NC!) I’m mega thrilled to be a new edition to Shemspeed’s rad, multifaceted Jewish voice.
For my maiden entry, I wanted to point out a sweet and oddly familiar musical riff laced neatly in the track, “Weekend Wars” by MGMT and a possible inspiration source. If you don’t know the psychedelic electric-y sounds of MGMT, do yourself a solid and get to know them. Really good music. And as for the track Weekend Wars, check minute 2:12. What song does that remind you of? It took me a minute so I’ll be fair and give you one, also.
So, I’m thinking totally 100% Erev Shel Shoshanim. As a kid, my mom used to sing that song while she tucked my sister and I into bed. Hearing it chai years later in Weekend Wars, I experienced a sort of musical exorsism. It was a reunion with a sequence of notes and feelings, that I hadn’t considered in years. As my friend Bess would say, a shehecheyanu moment, no doubt.
Perhaps Ben Goldwasser, the Jewish member of the two-man group, also had a soft spot for Erev Shel Shoshanim and knew the harmonious sing-songy lullaby would fit in nicely with the more digital, driving sounds of the rest of the track. Or, maybe just maybe, he threw in a subtle shout-out to MGMT’s yidishkite listeners and an invitation to remember the melodies of our mothers.
– Margaret Teich