Song of the Day 02/16/22

Today's song of the day is "Doin' Time" by Sublime, from their self-titled third studio album in 1997. The song reached number 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 28 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Doin' Time" features several samples, including "Summertime" by George Gershwin. The band originally recorded the song with the lyrics "doin' time and the livin's easy". In order to release the song using the Gershwin sample, the band had to agree to use the line "summertime" instead of "doin' time". However, the song was already recorded with the "doin' time" lyric, and lead singer Bradley Nowell had recently died of a heroin overdose. The lyric was re-recorded by Sublime's friend/producer Michael Happoldt singing "summertime". The lyrics tell of a cheating girlfriend, whose infidelities and poor treatment of her lover makes him feel like he is in prison.

I have always loved this song, as it was an alternative FM radio staple my whole childhood. The following line was one I would always sing along too without realizing I was complaining about my girl skeeting all over town.

She spreads her lovin' all over

and when she gets home

there's none left for me

Brad had a great way of saying obscure lines but making them fit, and having an almost romantic delivery to them. Who doesn't sing along to ------

Me and my girl

we got this relationship

Not much else to dive into in this song, Sublime was a great band that would have continued to make great music had he lived. I mean Sublime with Rome is pretty solid and they're missing the heart of the band. Rock on and RIP to Bradley.

(Another Banger)