Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) by Squeeze
The song, released in 1980 on the band's third album Argybargy is to me the perfect modern pop-rock song. At four minutes one might think it clocks in a little lengthy, and perhaps that is why, amazingly, it never broke the top 100 singles charts.
Its starts full on, no slow build up, it just grabs you by the collar and pulls you in with no warning. It features a quality which I love in any song: the perfect balance of intensity and melody. As intense as the verse is, it builds even further on the pre-chorus and lets you down gently on the refrain, only to step on the gas again.
It also contains both a great guitar solo AND a great piano solo. I usually don't dig a piano solo in any song that isn't by Madonna, but in Pulling Mussels it fits perfectly, and gives the song a nice jazzy feel right before "two fat ladies" make their appearance.
How are the lyrics? They are great too. It's mainly about random scenes on a beach and I'm pretty sure the narrator is telling us that he had sex with his girl "behind the chalet." I could be totally wrong about this, but theres so much going on in the story lyrically that even though it is totally literal, it could be open to interpretation, especially for me (see: "Party Lights").
Squeeze has had many bigger hits, and a lot of great songs, but Pulling Mussels (From the Shell) is the best song ever written.
The video below is somewhat interesting. The performance is at a considerably slower tempo than the album version.
This review was originally written in 2008 and I plan to continue it as a series with new "Best" songs ever written. Let me know what you think!
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