With the engineering and production help of Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/Yo La Tengo), Thom Monahan (devendra banhart/Lilys), Mark Alan Miller (J Mascis/Dar Williams) and Elisha Weisner (kahoots), Spouse has captured stunning recordings of their music over the years.
1999's '1 Marvel To DC' and 'Focus' were hits on college radio, making enough of a stir to have the song Superman featured on National Public Radio's 'This American Life'.
2000's Nozomi was met with much critical acclaim and was widely broadcast through heavy internet radio play.
2003's Love Can't Save This Love broke into the College Music Journal's Top 200 through February and March 2003. The album included a video for the over-the-top electro-dance song Boots & Pants.
A single for the song Catch 22 was released in February 2004, including their much loved cover of Til Tuesday's Voices Carry.
The summer of 2004 saw the arrival of Spouse's third full length, Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye?, and Spouse's first tour outside of the northeast, with Chicago-based Millimeters Mercury. Over the next two years, college and internet radio play continued to spread Spouse's music around the country or world, with the songs Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye? and Army Song receiving much attention. MTV also took notice of Spouse and licensed the entire album of Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye? for their popular shows, 'Laguna Beach' and 'The Hills'. During this time Spouse began touring frequently, including doing a tour opening for their friends, the pernice brothers.
From the summer of 2005 to 2006, Spouse wrote and recorded a large body of work in a turn-of-the-century farmhouse, formally owned by nina simone's manager as a recording studio for her. The outcome was Spouse's fourth full-length album, relocation tactics, which was mixed by Adam Lasus and Mark Alan Miller and was released on April 10th, 2007. In support of relocation tactics, Spouse went on their longest national tour to date, spanning more than five weeks and hitting many of the lower forty-eight states, including a fun show opening for friends Dinosaur Jr. at the Cashbah in San Diego. In the fall of 2007, Spouse cut a video for the song Hangover Cure For Humanity with MetroSpace Media in Chicago, which has a fast growing viewership on youtube.
official website: www.spousemusic.com
myspace: www.myspace.com/spouse
* Spouse members...
(••• indicates a frequent live performer, •• regular live performer or • occasional live performer)
José Ayerve ••• – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (v, g, b, k, d)
Liz Bustamante • – since 1998, co-writer: N, LCSTL (k, d, v)
John Cowden – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL (d, b, g, v)
Alisha Goldblatt – founding member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, RT (d, b, g, v)
Naomi Hamby • – since 2000, co-writer: LCSTL, K/W?, RT (g, k, v)
Ken Maiuri •• – since 1998, co-writer: N, K/W?, RT (k, g, b, d, v)
Don McAulay •• – since 2004, co-writer: K/W?, RT (d)
Michael Merenda • – original member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (d, g, v)
JJ O’Connell ••• – since 2001, co-writer: K/W?, RT (d, v)
Kevin O’Rourke ••• – since 2004, performer: RT (b, g, v)
Daniel Pollard •• – original member, co-writer: N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT (b, g, k, d, v)
Mark Schwaber – since 2003, co-writer: RT (g, b, d, v)
(key: d = drums, b = bass, g = guitar, k = keys, v = vocals; albums: N = Nozomi, LCSTL = Love Can’t Save This Love, K/W? = Are You Gonna Kiss or Wave Goodbye?, RT = Relocation Tactics)
Producers / Engineers...
Adam Lasus – LCSTL, RT
Mark Alan Miller – N, LCSTL, K/W?, RT
Thom Monahan – N, LCSTL
John Truscinski – LCSTL
Elisha Wiesner – K/W?
Extended Family (past or occasional live or recording players/vocalists):
Bart D’Alauro, Nick Lamberto, Gabe McElwain, Erin McKeown, Ruth Ungar Merenda, John Nunan, Henning Ohlenbusch, Anne Pinkerton, Peyton Pinkerton, Philip Price, Flora Reed, Jeremy Smith, Robert Voyer, and many others...
Catch 22
Spouse Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
After crashing into my head with the things you had to say.
You can't believe I was that got away.
I can't believe I was the one who had to stay, so long,
so long.
I was running out of space for all the things I need to do.
You can't believe I was the one that got away.
I can't believe I was the one who had to stay so long,
so long.
You can't believe I was the one that got away.
I can't believe I was the one who had to stay.
You can't believe I was the one that got away.
I can't believe I was the one who had to stay,
So long, So long, So long, So long.
I was rushing out to greet you with my hands across the floor.
You were racing to the phone while I was crawling out the door.
You can't believe I was the one that got away.
I can't believe I was the one who had to stay, so long
so long.
You can't believe I was the one that got away.
I can't believe I was the one who had to stay.
You can't believe I was the one that got away.
I can't believe I was the one who had to stay so long,
so long. So long. So long. So long. So long. So long. So long.
The lyrics to Spouse's song Catch 22 seem to center around a toxic and dysfunctional relationship. The first verse talks about the hurtful things that were said by the other person which caused damage to the singer. The line "You can't believe I was the one that got away" suggests that the other person doesn't see the singer as someone who could leave and move on from the relationship. The following line "I can't believe I was the one who had to stay, so long" implies that the singer was trapped in the relationship for a long time and unable to leave.
The second verse talks about conflicting priorities between the two people in the relationship. The singer is trying to do what they need to do while the other person wants them to stop. The chorus repeats the sentiment from the first verse with "You can't believe I was the one that got away" and "I can't believe I was the one who had to stay." The bridge talks about a moment of desperation where the singer was trying to reach out and connect with the other person, but they were focused on something else.
Overall, the lyrics paint a picture of a relationship that was unbalanced and perhaps even emotionally abusive. The repeated phrases in the chorus underscore the frustration and disbelief felt by the singer about their situation.
Line by Line Meaning
I was totalling the damage from the time you drove away.
I was calculating the harm caused by your departure.
After crashing into my head with the things you had to say.
Your words hit me hard and caused me emotional distress.
You can't believe I was the one that got away.
You are surprised that I managed to leave the relationship.
I can't believe I was the one who had to stay, so long, so long.
I am upset that I had to endure the relationship for a long time.
I was running out of space for all the things I need to do.
I was overwhelmed with responsibilities and had no time for myself.
You were telling me to stop while I was telling you the truth.
You were pressuring me to stop speaking the truth.
I was rushing out to greet you with my hands across the floor.
I was excitedly running to meet you.
You were racing to the phone while I was crawling out the door.
You were eager to talk on the phone while I was trying to leave.
Contributed by Sebastian I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
MrSuperHappyPants
I love this track - but there's a slightly slower, longer version out there with some wicked banjo action. I prefer the other cut, but it's nice to know this one's out there too. Thanks for posting. Will check out Wonder Woman next.
Joe Chlystun
@Dan Pollard i like this "Catch 22" version appearing on the 1st EP, the Till Tusesday "Voices Carry" remake was on this Ep aswell! Finally located my CD copy last night. almost gave up after nearly 2 weeks of searching!!!!
MrSuperHappyPants
@Dan Pollard
Sweet bizzo! Thanks much, mister dood.
Dan Pollard
Cool. The banjo version is track 4 on the album Love Can't Save This Love. Enjoy! http://spouse.bandcamp.com/album/love-cant-save-this-love