New Good Song: 50 Ways to Say Goodbye by Train

Here's a new good song -- "50 Ways to Say Goodbye" by Train

Train is an interest band when it comes to new good songs. The group has developed an eager-to-please quality that I find somewhat disingenuous. They were straight and narrow on the Adult Top 40 path at first, with "Meet Virginia," "Drops of Jupiter" and "Calling All Angels." Then when they had a huge surprise hit with "Hey, Soul Sister," which would potentially have been good had it been written/performed within 10 miles of lead singer Pat Monihan's vocal range. Following this, we were subjected to "Drive By," which seemed transparent in its attempt to copy the appeal of "Sister."

Incidentally, I'm not overly wild about this portfolio of output, although I'm pleased that the band is relatively popular, given that they play instruments, and Monahan, at age 43, is ancient by pop music standards. "Calling All Angels" is kind of moving and has an especially nice bridge. "Ordinary" has a a great opening and chorus, but throwaway verses. And "Marry Me" is a nicely executed, albeit expected, ballad.

Now we have "50 Ways to Say Goodbye," the follow-up to "Drive By," and I'm not sure it's superior to the rest of the discography, but it's whimsical, catchy, nicely produced and fun to listen to, and is thus a nice summer-playlist addition. Much of my musical taste runs toward the melancholy, but I'm not above something light and cheerul now and then. Scary, perhaps, that I consider a song about a devastating breakup to be light and cheerful. I digress.

Enjoy!