DDTT 2010: #10. Ludo, “Save Our City”
from the Broken Bride EP (2005)
I’d heard Ludo for the first time on my first trip to Los Angeles, in November of 2008. I sat in the parking lot of what Google has told me was the Mann Plant 16 in Panorama City, CA; this opposed to West Hollywood’s “Man Plant,” which I understand is not a movie theatre at all. I was in my rental car listening to the radio, killing time before seeing Quantum of Solace. The station might have been a Sirius one, but regardless, on it was a song by Ludo, as I was informed by the display on this modern radio. The song was catchy enough, catchier than what I was then used to listening to.
That song, as Google told me when I got back to New York, was not “Save Our City.” It was called “Go-Getter Greg,” and from there I found that Ludo had put out two full length albums and one EP. Downloaded them all, listened to them over the next month.
I was in Bryant Park, and it was right before Christmas because I remember sitting at a table off to the side of the stalls that were set up for the holiday bazaar. It was only the evening but it was very dark outside. Cold, but refreshing enough to be outside for a little while. I was enjoying Manhattan at that time for all it was, having just moved back to it from abroad (three years in Astoria). I had a moment probably after shopping, before going home, and put on the Broken Bride EP, five songs, none of which I’d yet sat and listened to.
Broken Bride tells the story of a scientist who invents a time machine because he wants to go back in time and prevent his wife from dying. Things run amok and he goes back too far and he finds himself among dinosaurs – that’s the first song. Then he goes too far in the other direction and finds himself at the Apocalypse, like you do. His story is told in the four songs labeled Parts I-IV, but embedded in the midst of the narrative is a little set piece that addresses how the end of the world is affecting other people. It’s dire. But it’s awesome. It has a lot of the same good stuff that makes up the “La Resistance” medley from the South Park movie.
“Save Our City” may be a strange, obscure song to find at #10. I loved it right away anyway because, narrative aside, to me it tapped into what I feel about New York, living here, wanting to thrive here. I find it charming in the end that all that was given perfect voice by a character in a song about fighting zombies.
1. Green Day, “Basket Case”
2. Melissa Etheridge, “I’m The Only One”
3. Weezer, “Buddy Holly”
4. The Offspring, “Come Out and Play”
5. Bush, “Machinehead”
6. Foo Fighters, “Monkey Wrench”
7. Muse, “Unintended”
8. Radiohead, “Everything In Its Right Place”
9. Stage, “Live Happy, Live With Anorexia”
10. Ludo, “Save Our City”
Dan’s Definitive Top Ten 2010: Introduction
