In the early 1990s, when the Chicago Bulls were pretty much the only team in the NBA, they used to make their entrance to an instrumental song called “Sirus,” by The Alan Parsons Project:
As a young buck growing up in the Chicago suburbs, anything related to Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, and the rest of the franchise that won 6 NBA championships in the decade, I was into. In 1993, my infatuation led me to a local record shop to purchase (along with the cassette single “Everything About You” by Ugly Kid Joe, and and an Ice Cube single I can't recall) to purchase “Eye in the Sky,” the 1982 album that featured the above mentioned entrance theme for My World Champion Chicago Bulls.
I'd listen to the 1:54 second wordless song over and over and over; rewinding the tape over and over. I didn't care that Alan Parson and his project had another 40 minutes of music in addition to “Eye in the Sky”. Until one day, when I let myself slip up, and “Sirus” turned into the mellow, poor mans Pink Floyd single that shared the same name with the album it was on.
That was the first time I realized that “Eye in the Sky” was actually a really fucking good song. It's moody, and seriously creepy and if I had to make an album dedicated to great songs that sound like cocaine, “Eye in the Sky” would be the opening one. It's paranoid, and seems like it teeters on the edge of snapping into white powder hysteria, but it somehow keeps it all together, and ends up being the sort of song you want to listen to while driving home after an all-night bender.
Flash forward to now: as of late, the Justin Vernon led “supergroup,” Gayngs, have been jocking the Steely Dan/Yacht Rock thing, and actually making something great out of it. As an actual, legitimate fan of both Steely Dan and Yacht Rock (sorry, I can't think of a better term), it makes me happy that a bunch of popular indie darlings decided to co-opt the sounds of commercial radio from my youth. From getting Prince to hang out at their prom, to kicking the ass of a George Michael song (with Har Mar as a guest no less), Gayngs have actually impressed the pants off my fat ass, when I initially thought to myself, “oh gee look at Mr. Sad Bastard Bon Iver making smooth rock,” followed up with a Cranky Kaplanesque “FUCK YOU”.
But I was won over time and time again. If Gayngs is a joke, it's a damn good one; but I don't think it is, and now that they found the time to cover “Eye in the Sky,” I'm almost 100% sure of it.
GAYNGS – Eye in the Sky from GAYNGS on Vimeo.
Thanks Gayngs: You've justified me defending this song for the last 20 years. Love you dudes and dudettes.
