Americana Music News: We first saw Steve Poltz in 1998 after the release of One Left Shoe. It was pretty clear from the performance that this was a talented singer and songwriter who would be sticking around.
What was less clear was whether he would build on the success of writing the pop hit “You Were Meant for Me” and become an MOR artist or do something more interesting.
It turned out to be the latter. He’s had a series of distinctive albums over the years.
Noineen Noiny Noin and a Haff (the title stems from an Australian promoter’s pronunciation of the year Poltz first came to that country) is a collection of 18 largely quirky songs that depending on your perspective, you’re likely to find ingenious or irritating.
There’s “Some Things About Me Should Know, which boasts these couplets: “I like the word belligerent/It rhymes with refrigerant” and “I like eating food/I love being nude.”
Then there’s “Salt Suit,” a song about a man who is unable to cry, but then is so moved that he cries constantly until he’s caked in salt and has to go to crying rehab.
There are moments in the album where distinctive songwriters like John Prine and Todd Snider come to mind, but Poltz certainly ups the oddness.
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