Hollerado’s “Good Day At the Races”

Sitting at a respectable #11 (and having peaked at #9) on the Canadian alt rock radio charts this week, “Good Day At the Races” is, in the usual style of Hollerado, catchy, quirky, and fun power pop-rock. Selected as the first single off their 10-inch compilation album, Margaritaville 2: The Reckoning—which, interestingly, comes bundled with a bottle of their “hot and healthy” Hollerado Hot Sauce—“Good Day At the Races” succeeds in having straightforward lyrics that are nevertheless hard to pin down.

The trend continues through the entire album; as Hollerado explained to Exclaim: “There’s a song about a ghost that hangs out in the mill in our old town. There’s a song about evacuating a war zone when you’re the daughter of a crazy inventor. The opening track is actually a little diddy of advice that everyone should follow.”

The first song? “Please Don’t Listen to Hollerado”.

Following the abundance of quirkiness, the video for “Good Day At the Races” features ostrich racing, close-up shots of men eating pickles, and some rather lackadaisical female dancers… if you can call them that.

And the lyrics:

In my bedroom there are books on architecture
Bury myself in them listening to records
In the springtime we will all be graduating
Parents wonder why I haven’t started dating

I’m way down low, but I’ve got somebody to love

Mother took me to the daughter of the pastor
Hoping girls and God would make my heart beat faster
Sundays we’d drop acid, talk about the weather
Till you took my hand, said, “I ain’t what you’re after”

I’m way down low, but I’ve got somebody to love
I’m way down low, but I’ve got somebody to love

And mother cried, father took a long walk
Hasn’t let his eyes meet mine, he barely talks
And I am scared, scared of introductions
Scared of repercussions and discussions in the dark

But you are strong, I turn you on and take it easy
When all you’ve got is gone
I fed you for your song
Let the good day at the races make it right

I’m way down low, but I’ve got somebody to love
I’m way down low, but I’ve got somebody to love
I’m way down low, but I’ve got somebody to love

Hmm. Queen references, anyone?

You can find Hollerado at CBC Radio 3, on Facebook and Myspace, and at their official site. You can also follow them on Twitter, and you can buy their music on iTunes or direct from their distributor, the venerable Arts & Crafts.