Anna and the Aliens
Having gotten past the first batch of more serious songs on Letters to the Editor, Vol. 1, we arrive at the “fun” song. Anna and the Aliens starts out as a summer-of-love, drive-fast-and-run-away-with-my-girl song.
Anna and I grew up in a small town
She was the prettiest girl for miles around
Well, I fell in love and she followed me down
I knew he’d have my head when her daddy found out
Anna, baby, we got to get out of this town
Anna, baby, we got to get out of this town
So we made our plans and we hedged our bets
She wanted Broadway, I just wanted the Mets
My cousin had a Chevy that didn’t need keys
She threw her bags in the back and slid close to me
We headed north on 75
Just us and a New York state of mind
The radio said the stars were going to fall tonight
We parked on a hill, laid down on the hood
Things were heating up like we knew they should
Until one of those stars kept falling, nearly took our lives
Andy is admittedly a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, and has said that he was consciously looking for that tone in the lyrics of this song. It feels to me like a feel-good Americana summer rock’n'roll song. Andy also gives us something almost Dylan-esque in the vocals here for a couple of lines. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an Andy vocal quite like this before.
And then everything changes.
The crash was the loudest thing I’d ever heard
A hundred miles away it made a cloud of dirt
There was a glowing green and our hair on end
I walked to the rubble and looked over the edge
There in the ground in the fire and steam
Was a great big silver flying machine
I saw something move and got ready for a fight
Then another ship came to clean it up
they invited us in and then took right off
But Anna, you and me, I think we’re going to be all right
You and me, we’re finally getting out of this town
Anna, you and me, we’re finally getting out of this town
The song has to have a twist, and here it is. Hey, there’s more than one way to get out of town. Is it cheesy? You bet. But it’s a lot of fun. Andy shows us a playful side here that we haven’t seen since who knows when. I’m thinking I’d like to see him do this one live. What fun.
I love this line. It puts a 1950’s image in my head. Its so brilliant. Just a look of shock with a green hue on their faces. It makes me smile whenever I picture it.
–Let the record show that I was not alive in the 50’s.