In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This time around, we’re picking our favorite songs about giving thanks.
Drive-By Truckers, “The Thanksgiving Filter” (2011)
I’m thankful for a lot of things, but most of all I’m thankful for my crazy family. I’ve got a fun husband, a handsome dog, a smart brother, weirdly great parents, and a bunch of other kind and helpful grandparents and aunts and whatever. But while I love my family, I’m absolutely still grateful that I don’t have to spend every minute of every day with them—especially around the holidays. A little togetherness goes a long way.
That’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved Drive-By Truckers’ “The Thanksgiving Filter.” A Patterson Hood ditty about his crazy-ass family, “The Thanksgiving Filter” finds Hood giving thanks “For the filter that enables some distance / From the screaming and crying and the needs of assistance”—that filter being 300 miles of highway. While it’s always kind of interesting to deal with your “aunt praising Palin” and the niece who “loves Obama,” sometimes that “uncle [who] came to dinner wearing his pajamas” can push that precarious family dynamic right over the brink. Those relatives are all great in small doses, but together? Together, they’re enough to make you want to run—or drink, at the very least.