My Son Cool

Having just gone through the arduous process of trying to come up with a name for a new baby (one whose arrival last month is the reason for the deceleration in posts here, by the way), I hear this track differently than others might. In what seems a companion piece to his song "Your Name is Wild," he seems to be making his pitch to name his son "Cool" (Pollard reportedly wanted to call his daughter "Wild"). It can be tough to come up with a name if you don't have an obvious selection based on family tribute or some other historical cause. My wife and I toyed with several, but couldn't agree on many. We settled on Daniel, while Pollard and his wife went with Bryan.

Pollard didn't go down without a fight, it seems. He opens the song with a declaration, seemingly aimed at his wife: "Decide now!" He has a list, "complete without your permission," and "Cool" is at the top.

He seems to lose interest in the idea, however, because by the second verse he is on to typically Pollardian imagery: "Completely the rope has been severed, the night screams for contact and clue."