Apology in Advance

According to the Guided by Voices Database, I was at the last show where this song was performed live. That's probably for the best, for while "Apology in Advance" is a perfectly fine song, it falls so far down the rankings that its inclusion in a future setlist would only displace something better.

The song is built on a bland riff and a fairly average Robert Pollard vocal and lyric. The most interesting musical element comes about halfway through. Doug Gillard offers a a nice guitar line that drives the verse right before the bridge, Pollard singing "And the nights too bright to hide from sight, so I better get things right" as Gillard spins off twanging little riffs.

That seems to ignite Pollard, who keeps the bridge going for much of the rest of the song, offering the most interesting lyrical content of the entire piece, tossing off intricate and increasingly clever lines.

Been around the block I even threw up one street over,
absorbed in the holding cell all blemishes exposed.
with the plastic hand, of man I can.

stepping up I go limp at the sound of woman laughing,
leaving me to speculate the odds of one last chance.
to apologize in advance.

It adds up to a decent song that, if its author hadn't penned several hundred that were superior, might not feel like filler at the end of an album.