Magnetized

Album: Star Wars (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • The '60s-pop-flavored closing track from Wilco's ninth studio album is about the familial ties that bind. "I'm sustained by a deep pull and connection to my family, to my wife," lead singer Jeff Tweedy explained in a Song Exploder podcast. "I realize we're magnetized. I don't know if I can say it any more plainly than that, even though it sounds silly out of context. I don't think it's necessarily about romantic love. I think it's about something stronger than that, and that's family."
  • Tweedy approaches songwriting as a discovery process that starts with a vocal melody and a jumble of sounds ("mumble tracks") that morph into real lyrics where the meaning reveals itself. "Your ego isn't really that interested in what's really inside of you," he told Song Exploder. "Your ego is very much interested in presenting an idealized version of yourself to the world, and vulnerability only cracks through that by accident; unintentionally. When your ego's really working hard to be smart and clever and on par with your heroes musically, those are real roadblocks to discovery."

    "I just trust the process a lot more than I trust myself to present something honest and vulnerable and real. Your unconscious has somehow allowed some part of you to slip through."
  • Tweedy's son, Spencer Tweedy, provided additional percussion on the album. Spencer says he owes a lot of his drumming skill to Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, especially on "Magnetized": "It has a lot of Glenn in it because I've listened to Glenn's drumming since I was six years old and even taken lessons with him when I was a little kid, so probably has a lot of overlap with what Glenn does."

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