IFLTS: 'Let Me In,' Hot Hot Heat

Posted on Sep 30th 2008 4:00PM by Drew Katchen
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'Let Me In,' Hot Hot Heat
From 2007's 'Happiness Ltd.'

In March of last year, I happened to be vacationing in Hot Hot Heat's home territory of British Columbia. One overcast afternoon, a friend of mine and I picked up some coffee and set about taking a stroll through Vancouver's Stanley Park -- an awesome 1,000 acre expanse surrounded by the Pacific -- when I happened to catch out of the corner of my eye Dustin Hawthorne, HHH bassist, lunching at an outdoor cafe with a friend. We kept walking, but now I wonder if at some point, their conversation turned to recording and the new, then-unreleased 'Happiness Ltd.,' and if Hawthorne ever said something like, 'Dude, we have this badass song. It doesn't have a name yet, but it's gonna be huge. I'm talking like way bigger than 'Bandages' or 'No, Not Now.' Just wait.' I'd like to think he did. His boasting, as far as I'm concerned, would've been totally justified.

So, 'Let Me In.' Let's talk about it. It's good. Like chocolate in your peanut butter good. Like a sunny, 90 degree day at the beach with drinks good.

But why?

Well, everything about it screams big. The song's got an incredibly inflated air of earnestness, which, let's be honest, can be a dangerous in the wrong hands. Singer Steve Bays sounds like a little puppy that's been left out in a thunderstorm, and he's begging to be, well ... let in. Lyrically, Bays' utterly naked conviction to get in from wherever he is is what gets you. That type of sincerity could help him sell ice to Eskimos.

And in that part when Bays repeats "But I don't want to look at you this way/I'm staring through your window/I don't want to think of you this way," and the strings follow him as he builds steadily to the chorus, you reach a vista. You can hear this song at the closing credits of 'Music and Lyrics' or some other '07 rom com that would've benefited from the sweeping track's presence.

Hell, I was half surprised to not see it on either McCain or Obama's iPod playlist given the simple yet obvious metaphor of the title and chorus. As a matter of fact, there's still time; one of you White House contenders, get on it already before November passes.

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