Yours to Keep

On a disc with 20 songs, many of them among the band's very best, it would be easy for a quiet little 1:15 song to go unnoticed. But "Yours to Keep" holds its own among the killer tracks on Bee Thousand, a feat that is further testament to Robert Pollard's talents as a writer of strong melodies. It's a lo-fi gem, just Pollard accompanying himself on acoustic guitar singing two short verses that conclude with one of his most arresting images, the "necklace of 50 eyes."

According to the six tracklists reported by Scat Records' Robert Griffin in the supporting material for the "Director's Cut" version of Bee Thousand he released in 2004, "Yours to Keep" was not considered for the album until the final version. That's no surprise, as Pollard often messes with tracklistings and, as Griffin notes, not one song made it onto every incarnation of the album. Whether "Yours to Keep" was a late creation or simply something that Pollard didn't feel fit the album until the 11th hour, it was a great choice. It is paired with the sprightly pop of "Echos Myron" on Bee Thousand, offering a quiet comedown from that saccharine burst, and even on its own it is among Pollard's most delicate creations.