Nearly Lost You

Today's edition of Retro Friday features the band Screaming Trees, and the song "Nearly Lost You."

Screaming Trees ... now how can you not like a band with the name Screaming Trees?!

Screaming Trees was an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington in 1985 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bass player Van Conner and drummer Mark Pickerel. By the time the band reached it's most successful time period, Pickerel had been replaced by drummer Barrett Martin. Although widely associated with the grunge genre, the band's sound incorporated hard rock and psychedelic elements. Since the bands formation, Screaming Trees has released seven studio albums, five EPs and three compilations.

Screaming Trees is often quoted as being one of the "Godfathers of Grunge." Screaming Trees achieved popularity as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with bands such as Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden and was one of the most successful and well loved underground music acts of the 1990s. The band only achieved one top ten single on the Modern Rock Tracks charts.

I was introduced to the band Screaming Trees by the guys in the band that we followed in college. They played a cover of the Screaming Trees song, "Nearly Lost You," which subsequently became my favorite Screaming Trees song. "Nearly Lost You" was released in 1992 and the video became an MTV and alternative radio hit in the fall of that year, thanks to its inclusion in the soundtrack for the film Singles. "Nearly Lost You" peaked at #5 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and #50 in the UK Singles Chart, which made it the band's first single to chart outside the United States. The album that it appeared on, Sweet Oblivion, sold a total of 300,000 copies in the United States.

Did you hear the distant cry
Calling me back to my sin
Like the one you knew before
Calling me back once again
I nearly, I nearly lost you there
And it's taking us somewhere
I nearly lost you there
Let's try to see now
Drag me far enough to know
I'm blind every mile that you burn
There's a rider that's fallen and
It's clear there's no time to return
I nearly, I nearly lost you there
And it's taking us somewhere
I nearly lost you there
Let's try to see now
Did you hear the distant lie
Calling me back to my sin
Like the one you knew before
Calling me back once again
I nearly, I nearly lost you there
And it's taking us somewhere
I nearly lost you there
Well let's try to see now
I nearly lost you there....

And now, here's a little Screaming Trees and "Nearly Lost You" for your listening pleasure!



Cheers!