Tynan's Anger

Arts & Culture Commentary from a Loving Digital Skeptic

[SONGS OF THE DECADE] #48 The Fratellis – Baby Fratelli

Posted on | November 13, 2009 | No Comments

SONGS OF THE DECADE #48

[For more info, read the Ground Rules of The Song of The Decade List]

The Fratellis – Baby Fratelli (2007)

Baby Fratelli – The Fratellis

There’s a small, but important key to The Fratellis’ appeal, one that contemporaries from Jet to Franz Ferdinand to the Libertines lack: all those band’s braggadocio comes from the attitude of “look at me.” The Arctic Monkeys, like Oasis in the 90s (and James Blunt this decade), come from an attitude of “look at you.” The Fratellis, conversely come from an attiude of “look at us.”

The plurality of rock and roll is hard to come by, and it’s always been hard to come by the third person in music. So let’s settle with “Baby Fratelli,” a song that includes everyone in Anglo-American western life of any race, sex, or religion. “Baby Fratelli” is not a love song, it’s not a bromance, and it’s not a drinking song. If anything, it’s a song that starts with getting up to meet your mates, then realizing the joys that come with missed connections, hanging out, and all the drama that makes us human. That kind of shared revelry is what has made the Fratellis so much more popular among fans than they’ll ever be among critics. In terms of songs this decade that got all the wonders of being in your 20s, “Baby Fratelli” takes the cake. The Fratellis were the only band this decade that let themselves have that cake and eat it, too. Cholesterol be damned.

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