Welcome to the CD 92.9 FM blog where we celebrate anything and everything music! 

My name is Just Emma. I’ll be acting as your editor-in-chief until I am dethroned. From here on, we will be providing you with some recurring daily features we hope you will enjoy. If you don’t like one article, maybe you’ll love the next. And if you don’t like any of it…at least we still have a totally tubular alternative radio station for you to listen to! 

Now, let’s kick things off with our very first Two For Tuesday!

On Two For Tuesday, we are going to celebrate two songs that are linked in one way or another. Maybe an artist referenced another artist’s song. Maybe one song features an interpolation of another song. Maybe an artist references one of their earlier songs through a repeated line or riff. If they’re linked, you may just read about them on Two For Tuesday.

Today, we’re going to discuss two songs by Vampire Weekend that use the same lyrical line. Vampire Weekend does this at least twice, so I’m sure they’ll be featured again. For now, we’re talking about the line “feels so unnatural//Peter Gabriel too.” 

In 2008, Vampire Weekend released their first, self-titled album. They were met with almost immediate success, as critics marveled at their blend of indie, chamber pop, and afropop. Among those styles, you may note “afropop,” a term that seems slightly out of place for a group of “Unbearably White” preppy boys. Hopefully, some solace may come from the fact that frontman Ezra Koenig was aware of the dissonance from the rip. 

The fourth single from the album was “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” immediately pushing together a wealthy summer hangout in Massachusetts and a dance from the Republic of Congo that was popular in the ‘80s. Koenig had traveled through Europe in 2005, thinking a great deal on the journey about colonialism and in his words, “the aesthetic connections between preppy culture and the native cultures of places like Africa and India.” He wrote a short story about the topic, and later, named the song after it. He uses the line “feels so unnatural//Peter Gabriel too” to point out the dissonance. Peter Gabriel was also known for using beats from African countries in his songs. 

**This song contains stronger language than we would play on the air.**

Obviously, the topic of disharmony in situations weighed heavily on Koenig, as he repeated the line only a couple of years later for the rare Vampire Weekend track “Ottoman.” The song appeared on the soundtrack to Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and as a b-side to “Holiday” in Japan. This time, the conflict comes from the protagonist of the song marrying someone in a much higher income bracket, making him feel like a fish out of water. The line “feels so unnatural//Peter Gabriel too” is used to indicate a general sense of discord this time.

Peter Gabriel himself has commented on “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” and even recorded a cover of the song alongside Hot Chip. In his cover, he changes the repeat of the line to “it feels so unnatural//to sing your own name,” which spiritually fits the meaning of the line.

Koenig has always held the belief that there is value to any and all music. His own reach in music has advanced beyond Vampire Weekend (though he is still active with the band). He has appeared on a number of songs from alternative to electronica to hip-hop and even co-wrote for Beyonce on Lemonade. His contributions to Beyonce’s “Hold Up” include the sample of an Andy Williams song that serves as the backing beat and the chorus lines borrowed from The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. 

So there are two songs with a lyrical link. And now, maybe the next time you find yourself somewhere you don’t feel like you belong, you can repeat the mantra of “feels so unnatural//Peter Gabriel too” and feel just a little bit better.

You can hear many Vampire Weekend songs on CD 92.9 FM! 

If you have any suggestions for future Two For Tuesdays, send them to JUSTEMMA@CD929FM.COM