Me and You (Egg Hunt song)

"Me and You"
Single by Egg Hunt
B-side "We All Fall Down" (2:49)
Released October 1986
Format 7" single
Recorded March 27, 28 and 30, 1986
Studio Southern
Genre Post-hardcore
Length 3:48
Label Dischord
Songwriter(s) Ian MacKaye
Producer(s) Egg Hunt
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

The single play record "Me and You", also known as Egg Hunt,[2][3] and 2 Songs,[4] is the first and only stand-alone release by the American experimental post-hardcore duo[2] Egg Hunt.[4]

Overview

Egg Hunt's only output, a piece of "experimental, post-hardcore" music,[2] is notable for its B-side, "We All Fall Down", a "post-punk melodic masterpiece"[1] whose lyrics are a heartfelt and bitter reflection on the demise of Washington, D.C.'s 1985 Revolution Summer:[5]

In search of the quiet life
We all fall down
In search of the righteous life
We all fall down

          —Embrace, final lines of "We All Fall Down"[6]

The song was originally written by Ian MacKaye for his band Embrace, whose other members rejected it.[nb 1][3][6][7]

Although seemingly a small release in comparison to Dischord's significant catalog, this record is still a notable sample of MacKaye and Jeff Nelson's songwriting abilities, as well as their chemistry together as artists.

The single features MacKaye's recording debut as a guitarist and his final collaboration with Nelson.[6]

Background

Egg Hunt

Future Egg Hunt members at Dischord Records ca. 1983. From left to right are Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson.

Egg Hunt was a one-off musical experiment of long time friends and musicians Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, former singer and drummer, respectively, of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat,[1][7] and Dischord Records co-founders.

In the spring of 1986, during a MacKaye and Nelson trip to London, England to discuss possible European distribution of Dischord releases with Southern Studios,[7][8][9] its owner, John Loder, invited them to do, just for fun,[9] some recording while they were there.[1][2][3] They recorded four songs[3] in three days, and they liked the results so much that they decided to release a two-song single record to commemorate the occasion.[1][2][3][7][9] They dubbed it "Egg Hunt",[2][10] since it was recorded over Easter weekend.[3][5][7]

Just after returning to Washington, D.C., MacKaye's then band, Embrace, was suddenly and unexpectedly dissolved,[11] so he and Nelson tried turning their experiment in the United Kingdom into an actual band. They recruited former Gray Matter members Steve Niles and Geoff Turner, but the project never surpassed the rehearsal stage[2][3][9] and MacKaye decided to leave.[12] However, Nelson, Turner, and Niles stayed together and soon invited former Gray Matter guitarist Mark Haggerty to join them to form the Dischord band Three[1][2][9] in the summer of 1986.[12] For his part, MacKaye eventually directed his energy and creativity toward the forming of Fugazi in 1987.[1][2]

The Southern session ended up being the last time MacKaye and Nelson would record together.[3][6][9]

Production and release

"Me and You" was recorded with engineer John Loder at Southern Studios in London, England,[4] on March 27, 28 and 30, 1986.[1] It was released on Dischord Records in October 1986, in 7-inch vinyl disc format.[nb 2][1][4][7]

Reissues

"Me and You" was reissued by Dischord as a CD single[nb 3] on June 16, 1997.[13]

In 2002, the song "We All Fall Down" was featured on the 3-CD compilation box set 20 Years of Dischord.[nb 4][14][15]

On September 27, 2011, Dischord re-released the single on light blue vinyl.[nb 2][16]

Track listing

All tracks written by Ian MacKaye[1].

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Me and You"3:48
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."We All Fall Down"2:49
Total length:6:37

Personnel

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "They thought it sounded like Led Zeppelin," MacKaye said wryly.[6]
  2. 1 2 Dischord #DIS 20V
  3. ↑ Dischord #DIS 20CD
  4. ↑ Dischord #DIS 125

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rabid, Jack. "Me and You: AllMusic Review by Jack Rabid". allmusic.com. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DePasquale, Ron. "Egg Hunt: Artist Biography by Ron DePasquale". allmusic.com. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Egg Hunt. dischord.com. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 2 Songs. dischord.com. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark (Soft Skull Press, 2001). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. Fourth ed., 2009. Akashic Books. ISBN 9781933354996. pp. 208-209.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark (Soft Skull Press, 2001). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. Fourth ed., 2009. Akashic Books. ISBN 9781933354996. p. 209.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sobriquet Magazine (January 8, 2009). "Egg Hunt: Egg Hunt". sobriquetmagazine.com. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  8. ↑ Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark (Soft Skull Press, 2001). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. Fourth ed., 2009. Akashic Books. ISBN 9781933354996. p. 206.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tyler, Vile. "Jeff Nelson of Dischord Records". punkglobe.com. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  10. ↑ Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. p. 163.
  11. ↑ Andersen, Mark; Jenkins, Mark (Soft Skull Press, 2001). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. Fourth ed., 2009. Akashic Books. ISBN 9781933354996. pp. 206-207.
  12. 1 2 Three. dischord.com. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Me and You", 1997 reissue. allmusic.com. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  14. ↑ Various artists, 20 Years of Dischord. dischord.com. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ Various artists, 20 Years of Dischord. allmusic.com. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Me and You", 2011 reissue. allmusic.com. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
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