Wow. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I first heard this song back in 1997. The third track on Dave Godin's amazing first volume of Deep Soul Treasures, it must have taken me a full hour to get to track four, such is the magnificence of Lights Out.
Click to hear Lights OutSung in the first person, this tale of a soldier in Vietnam penning a letter (or perhaps reflecting on a letter he's received) to his girl back home, pleading for her to wait for him to return so they can be together while the band plays Lights Out (which I've always assumed to be a reference to Jerry Byrne's Lights Out, released in 1958 on Specialty, but I could be very wrong about this), is, for me, about as moving as popular music gets.
Beginning with rolling, military-band drums, chugging guitar and distant horns, the song steadily rises to a crescendo, as first a choir and then an orchestra join the march, before Zerben's devastating cry of "lights out, lights out baby" brings the whole thing crashing down. If it fails to sends shivers down your spine, consult a doctor immediately: you might be technically dead.
Flip Lights Out over and you get a lovely mid-tempo number called You Make Me Feel Good, credited simply to the Dynamics, making this rare 45 a double-sided delight that's well worth seeking out.
Click to hear You Make Me Feel Good
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