I got pretty hot and then I came to in the Chillout Tent

Have you ever listened to a song and been struck by the irresistible urge to replay it? Then, after the second listen does nothing to satiate your appetite, played it over and over again hoping to unlock the mysteries behind why this song affects you so much?

Well, this happened to me today. "Chillout Tent" by The Hold Steady became an obsession for me, and I must have replayed it fifteen times. It is a brilliant track about two protagonists, a male and a female, in need of a break from their lives who head to a concert (separately, they don't know each other) and proceed to indulge in excessive drug-taking to the extent they wind up being taken to the "Chillout Tent" to recuperate.

The story is told by Hold Steady front man Craig Finn. He narrates each character's tale up to their arrival at the Chillout Tent before letting each of them, in separate choruses, vocalize their experience in the Chillout Tent. "They gave us oranges and cigarettes" they boast in their respective choruses. And to conclude the tale, they meet each other while chilling out in the tent, start passionately making out, and never see each other again.

She says:
he was kind of cute.
we kind of kicked it in the chillout tent.
and I never saw that boy again

And then he says:
she was pretty cool
we kind of kicked it in the chillout tent.
and I never saw that girl again.

You really have to find it. It is an incredible, original song.


Current rotation: The Hold Steady (you probably figured as much)